One Day, One Night
by Miss Saigon11
Summary: On Hiatus. As the search for Naraku continues, Inuyasha&co. encounter a new enemy. But what happens when you're up against an enemy that cant die? Lines will be crossed and friendships will be tested in this epic tale of friendship, betrayal, and love.
1. Hauntings of the Night

**Hello again or nice to meet you! Miss Saigon11 here! This is my ver first fic One Day, One Night. Today, Tuesday, December 1st, 2009, nearly a year after I first published this chapter, I decided to go back and change the AUTHOR'S NOTES at the begining and end of this chapter. Makes me feel like such a n00b and much less sophisticated. Really, who doesn't want to get rid of any traces of n00b?**

**SUMMARY:** Takes place during the manga. So, for the past few weeks, Inuyasha has been having the same dream; the night when he was pinned to the tree. But for some reason, these dreams have been feeling more and more real, as if he's actually re-experiencing the event. Then they are attacked by a monster that was supposed to be extinct. And Inuyasha has another dream, only at the end, he meets a strange woman that tells him that he is being forced up against a new foe who is supposedly stronger than Naraku. Along the journey, the group forms new alliences, create new friendships, and streangthen the relationships within the group. When it becomes clear that this new enemy wants Inuyasha out of the picture, his friends, old and new, will do everything they can to ensure his protection. However, knowing Inuyasha, he isn't going to want to be locked up in some place where he can't do anything but watch. Just how far are his friends willing to go to protect him, and just how far will Inuyasha go to protect the ones close to his heart? As the weeks go by, and they aren't any closer to victory, patience is wearing thin, and the trust is starting to break. When push comes to shove, will this story end with the much wanted sweet victory, or will it end with broken hearts and the pain of betrayal?** (Rated T)**

**Yerp. Better summary.**

**So, Onward! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates. Nor do I own Jin, Chase, or Chancy. They belong to me friend.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Hauntings of the Night

I was at least 99.9% sure I was dreaming for two reasons: One because I was carrying the complete Shikon Jewel in my hand. I knew for a fact that Naraku has almost all the shards. And two: I was running in darkness. Completely pitch black. The only thing I could see was myself. What's strange about it was the fact that even I know it's impossible for anyone to run in this kind of darkness, even for a half demon like me.

But it feels so real. I can feel my feet touch the ground, the wind in my face, and the weight of my hair off my back. And I have a strange feeling I've done this before…

Suddenly, as if I just opened my eyes, I could see the world around me. The darkness was gone, and I'm in a familiar scene. I've defiantly been here before.

"Inuyasha!"

I turn toward the sound of my name being called only to find myself face to face with an arrow. It pierced my chest sending a shock of pain throughout my body. I crash into a tree, the arrow holding me there.

The jewel flies out of my hand. I reach for it, but the damn arrow in my chest keeps me from catching it. It bounces and rolls in front of a woman with long black hair and pale skin – and a wounded shoulder.

Kikyo.

"Ki…Kikyo...I thought…ugh!"

I woke up before anything else happened.

I was wet and sticky with sweat. My heartbeat was accelerated, and I was breathing heavy. It was only a dream. Just as I thought.

Next to me was Miroku, a powerful monk with a curse wind tunnel in his right hand. At times he can be a pervert, but at other times he proves to be a friend. He was sound asleep. Across the campsite, propped up against a tree, were Sango and her demon cat Kirara. Sango is a demon slayer, a warrior that specializes in ridding an area of demons. Whenever we're up against an unfamiliar demon, she's usually the one with all the info. Kirara is a demon cat that is a major way of transportation for Sango and Miroku when she's in her true form.

I leaned back against the tree I was sleeping against and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down.

"Bad dream?" asked a concerned voice.

I looked over to my left and locked eyes with a young girl named Kagome. I quickly looked away because she looks like Kikyo.

Shippo, a young fox demon, was curled up on Kagome's lap. Kagome's always been the motherly type and is always looking out for others. Heh. She'd go even save someone she owed nothing to. Sometimes, she's so worried about others, she forgets to take care of herself. That idiot.

"Hmph. So what if it was?"

"They say it's good to talk about a bad dream, what was it about?" She asked, only she really didn't need to. Kagome knows the reason why I can't look her in the eye. She also knows I've been having the same dream for a while now.

When I didn't answer, she sighed. "Inuyasha, you can't keep dwelling on the past. If you spend your life in the present, thinking about the past, then you won't be able to move toward the future."

I hate it when she gets all philosophic on me. What I hate even more is that I know she's right. She's just trying to help and I don't deserve it.

"Where the hell do _you _get off telling me how to live my life!? I'll live it any damn way I please!" I leaned back against the tree with my arms crossed, staring into the fire. "Not everyone's life is filled with sunshine and rainbows; it's just _you _who thinks they need to be! You can't force people to…" I stop in mid-sentence when I look up at Kagome and see that her eyes have been filled with a familiar emotion: Sadness. I hurt her.

Her eyes sparkled but not in the excited way. More like she was doing everything she could to keep her tears under control. She looked down at Shippo, sleeping soundly on her lap. She brushed some hair out of the twerp's eyes. "I was only trying to help." She confessed softly. A tear got loose and slid down her face. She swiped at it with her hand. I guess she was refusing to let me see that she was sad. Not that it mattered much. I know her better than anybody and can tell when she's sad. I've also figured out her behavior patterns: when she's made at me she'll go for a walk. When she's really mad at me she'll say "Sit". And when she's furious at me, she'll say "Sit" a whole bunch' a times and go home.

I watched as Kagome gently pushed Shippo off her lap, trying not to wake him, and stand up. "I'm going for a walk." she grabbed a burning stick from the fire. "Don't even try to follow me."

"W…" I tried to stop her only getting partially out of my sitting position. I stopped when I saw that her face said that she'd had enough of me. I watched her as she took a path that was opposite the nearby village.

_'Why the hell do I always say one thing too many!?! _I thought as I slumped back against the tree with my head in my hands. I don't mean to hurt her. Living your life as a half breed and being looked down upon by it doesn't exactly leave you with a happy attitude and a positive out look on life. _'Trust no one' _and _'Every man for himself'_. Those were my guidelines for protecting myself. It was the only way I knew how……Until I met Kagome that is.

I frowned as I thought about that conclusion. _'I suppose it's true.' _I thought. _'I mean considering the fact that….what's that smell?' _I lifted my nose and sniffed the air. _'Is it Koga? Heh. That would probably explain why the air smells so…' _my stomach flipped when a caught the full wave of the smell. It wasn't Koga. Far from it actually and much more sickening. _'The only thing that could have that smell would be a….But that's impossible!' _

A blood curdling shriek pierced the air. I looked at Sango and Miroku still sound asleep. I would've laughed if it hadn't dawned on me as to who that scream belonged to. I grabbed the Tetsusaiga and raced off down the path Kagome took.

A Brief Interlude

Unaware of where she was going, Kagome walked farther down the unfamiliar path and into the dense forest, dark and menacing.

_'Not everyone's life is filled with sunshine and rainbows; it's just _you _who thinks they need to be!' _Those words played over and over again inside her head cutting her like knives. She understands the reasons behind Inuyasha's sharp tongue. Anyone who grew up under conditions like Inuyasha's; who wouldn't expect them to be bitter about it?

Inuyasha's father died after he was born, and his mother died when he was still a kid. Around the time he was 16, he and his first love Kikyo were turned against each other and it was Kikyo who pinned Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree 50 years earlier. Kagome then broke the spell on Inuyasha by pulling the arrow out of his chest. When Inuyasha was free, he was thirsty for revenge against Kikyo for he was convinced she had betrayed him.

Shortly after that, a demon revived Kikyo using part of Kagome's soul. She's not really "alive" because she's only made up of bones, ashes, and burial soil. But the only way she can keep from becoming just a corpse again is to feed off the souls of the dead.

Even when Kikyo found out that Naraku was the one who tricked her and Inuyasha into betraying each other, and even though she still loves Inuyasha, their relationship was never the same.

Kagome hated it whenever she was forced to think or talk about Kikyo. She wasn't going to deny that she had feelings for the half demon, but just what _kind _of feelings she didn't even want to admit to herself. Ever since her father, her sanctuary where she could say anything to, died in an accident, she started keeping a tight lid on her feelings.

Suddenly, she heard a twig snap, and everything seemed to go silent. She turned around, her torch illuminating the path before her. "Inuyasha?" she called out. No answer. She started moving backwards. "Inuyasha if that's you, stoppit! You're freaking me out!"

A sudden burst of wind blew out her torch, leaving her in the darkness. As she turned around, she saw something move in the darkness. A shiver crawled from the small of her back up to the nape of her neck. She meekly tried to call out Inuyasha's name one more time but was over powered by the sickly sweet smell of decaying bodies.

Stumbling, the young girl fell over backwards, hands clasped over her mouth trying to keep her stomach under control. The scent was so strong she could taste it, which did not help her condition when she tried to breath.

"St-stay away!" Kagome sputtered, taking in another gulp of the foul air. Her stomach flipped and she couldn't hold it back any longer; she turned her face toward the ground and was violently sick.

The scent was stronger now. Kagome could tell that the source was near. She faced forward and gasped at the horrific view before her.

The creature, whom Kagome was sure was a human once upon a time, was revolting. Chunks of its skin fell of with every movement. Its eyes were sunken and its cheek bones were sticking out. Strands of hair dangled from its scalp, and for some reason its skin was moving.

The creature bent its knees until it was at eye level with Kagome. It leaned forward, its face just inches from hers. It smiled, showing rotten teeth, black, and decayed. When it smiled, its lips almost fell off in the process. The sight was so sickening, Kagome was glad that she'd hardly eaten anything that day. She didn't think she could handle another fit like that.

"You're pretty cute." The creature said in a bone chilling voice.

"So cute I could eat you right up, here and now."

As the creature talked, something fell from its face and onto Kagome's thigh, right below her school girls' skirt. Horrified, she realized what was making its skin move: maggots; and lots of them. Kagome screamed.

"Shh, shh, quiet!" the creature silenced her by putting a mealy hand over her quivering lips. The creature leaned its face closer to hers. "No need to shout now is there?" it ran its tongue along Kagome's cheek from her chin to her temple.

"No!" Kagome shrieked, pushing the creature away and took off down the path, heart pounding, breath heaving. As she ran, she knocked into a tall, dark figure.

Chapter 1 cont.

I held Kagome there to my chest staring down the Un-Dead, my right hand tightening around the hilt of the Tetsusaiga. The

Un-Dead stared back, his eyes meeting mine. The Un-Dead curled his lip, I curled mine tool. He stood his ground, I held mine. The Un-Dead snarled and I released a rippling growl from my throat.

It pointed a gnarled finger at Kagome. "The girl," I tightened my grip on her. Hearing her gasp for breath, I loosened my hold slightly, my eyes never leaving Sir Ugly infront of me.

The Un-Dead turned its palm to the sky and clawed its hand. "Give her to me! I already made my mark on her!"

Of course I noticed the slime on Kagome's face when she bumped into me, but spitting on someone can hardly be considered 'making a mark'. "Over my dead body!" I shouted back.

"That can be arranged!" The Un-Dead bent into a crouch ready to attack.

I charged full speed ahead. "Take this, you bastard!" I jumped and swung at him with the Tetsusaiga. Unfortunately, the thing actually _knows _how to fight and dodged my attack. He slashed at my back as I was coming down with his claw-like nails, which would've really hurt if I wasn't wearing my kimono. Getting slashed by an Un-Dead sure as hell wasn't a walk in the park.

_'Dammit! Now that thing's closer to Kagome!'_ I landed hard and turned around seeing the Un-Dead grinning maniacally at me. I narrowed my eyes at it. His grin widened in return.

"You're quick," it said, "but I'm faster!" it lunged at me.

"Like _hell _you are!" I leaped at it. "You're mine!"

We collided. We hit each other so hard that not even I knew what happened. It seemed like we had just switched positions _again._ I was about to turn and strike when I heard a thump on the ground. I turned to see the Un-Dead's on the ground, and its body crumpled on the ground.

"'You're quick,'" I quoted, "but I'm faster." And with that, I punted the Un-Dead's head, silently smiling to myself. I had _always _wanted to do that.

I turned to see Kagome standing in the same spot, shaking with fear. Sheathing the Tetsusaiga, I headed over to where she stood.

"You okay?" I asked, slightly annoyed at how it seemed like every frickin' day she got in trouble.

Instead of answering, she just laid her head on my shoulder….Um _what the hell?!?! _I stiffened, taken off guard by her reaction. I eventually relaxed when I realized she had stopped shaking.

I tried again: "You okay?" she only nodded.

"Well, it you're fine then lets go." She didn't move. I sighed irritated and started tapping my foot. How long was she going to keep this up?

"Thank you." She said in a small voice.

"Huh? Oh, yeah whatever." I said, feeling the heat rising in my face.

We stood there for about five more minutes. I angled my head towards her face to see if I could get a rough idea of when she wanted to go back to the campsite. But I lost all train of thought when I looked down at her face, her eyes closed. While I was staring at the sheer innocence of her look, the entire world and its entire people seemed just a bit nicer. All in that one moment.

That is, until Kagome jerked her head back smacking me in the face, and then causing _my _head to fly back.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed turning away from me, "That was so scary!"

"That thing is called and Un-Dead," I told her, "it's kinda like a zombie but they're alive." My voice was muffled on account of my hand covering the lower half of my face trying to numb the pain.

"…..Huh?" she asked her back still turned.

_Sigh. _"I mean, they're like, okay, they aren't dead. They're people who died along time ago and then they were suddenly brought back to life only their looks didn't improve."

"Ohmigosh!" apparently she turned around. "Are you okay?! Did I do that?! I'm sorry!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Sheesh! Let's just get back to camp!" I turned around and headed back to the camp with Kagome following closely behind.

* * *

"Kagome was stalked by an Un-Dead?!" Miroku exclaimed the next morning at breakfast.

"I've heard about those." Sango said stroking Kirara. "Apparently they get their energy from young people, but they're supposed to be wiped out! No one is supposed to know how to make them anymore."

We were sitting under a tree in a clearing near the village. The morning sun shined down on us as we ate the food Kagome packed for us and recapped the previous night's events.

Kagome cocked her head to one side, obviously thinking. "Inuyasha said something about them being 'brought back to life'."

Sango placed her chopsticks down to pick up a rice ball. "Yeah, apparently thousands of years ago, the most menacing power of all was black magic. Even the demons lived in fear of the wicked sorcerers." I snorted as she said that. Sango glared at me before she continued. "Anyways, making Un-Deads were generally a really tough thing to do, it took massive amounts of power to complete. They were supposedly very strong." She started nibbling on her rice ball.

Kagome looked around nervously. "Should we expect any more Un-Deads?"

"No," Sango said matter-of-factly, "Un-Deads are impossibly strong when banded together, but when you get them alone they are easy to take down. They almost always travel in a pack." She stopped to think for a moment before turning to look at me. "You said there was only one?" I nodded. "Then I wouldn't expect anymore."

Kagome nodded, finally understanding. I opened my mouth to say something about Naraku. After all, by the look on Kagome's face, I could tell that she wasn't interested in the subject anymore.

"Sango, could you tell me more about the time with black magic?" Well I've been wrong before.

I closed my mouth and got into a more comfortable position for the long story. I already know it. Hmmm, if I fall asleep, will I have another dream?

"The time was generally awful – that doesn't even scratch the surface of what life was like back then. There wasn't even one clear ruler. Families traveled among themselves, doing what they could to survive. The only ones with true power were the sorcerers who practiced black magic. The sorcerers could do whatever they wanted. If I told you all the things they did, you'd be stuck here for years.

"But even beings of such awesome power had a leader. Naturally each one wanted to be the ruler. It started when a young boy at around 14-years-old stepped out and declared himself ruler because he was the most powerful. This angered everyone. 'What makes _you _most powerful, you scrawny little urchin!' one sorcerer shouted. As the sorcerer stepped forward to dispose of the boy with his own magic, with just a flick of the boy's wrist, the sorcerer fell dead; his neck twisted.

"'I think that does. Don't you agree?' he asked, smiling wickedly at the other sorcerers who were cowering in fear.

"And from that day on, the young boy led an army of the most powerful sorcerers he could find, and led attack after attack, winning battle after battle claiming as much land as he could. People started calling him the Shadow King because hardly anyone ever spoke to him let alone see him, and those who did speak to him only saw him enveloped in shadow."

She stopped for a minute and looked at me. "Remember there _were _demons, only since they never came out they were labeled as myths." She continued her story.

"Then one day, a man in a silk cloak approached the Shadow King. He stood before him and threw back his hood, revealing red eyes and a row of sharp teeth outlining his mouth. He was the King of the Demons. 'You will now pay for the suffering of my people!' he shouted and then he threw himself at the Shadow King and was then locked in a heated battle.

"Minutes turned into hours, and then days but no one won the fight yet. Eventually, the King of the Demons realized that the King of the Shadows cannot die – another one of the black magic skills he possessed. Thinking quickly, the King of the Demons sealed the Shadow King in a state that everyone, sorcerers included, thought was just a fairytale – the state between life and death. The Shadow King got sucked into a void and stayed there forever.

"Shortly after that, the King of the Demons died from his wounds. After the demon king died, all the demons came forth and destroyed every last sorcerer, and with their king dead, they turned against each other, fighting for the right to rule. Soon they decided to become their own master and off they went, wreaking havoc wherever they went."

Sango took a deep breath, "And that brings us to today."

…..Oh, what it's over? I yawned, tired from listening to that story. I looked around me: Kagome looked interested, Shippo looked confused, and…I stopped and stared at Miroku. So did everyone else. He was leaning against the tree, eyes closed and mouth open. To be honest he looked like a fish with his mouth hanging open like that.

Eventually his eyes snapped open. "Oh um, yes, very interesting story Sango. Now," he cleared his throat, "_what _were we talking about?" I laughed when Sango hit him with her Hiraikotsu. Serves the idiot right.

"Oh!" Sango slapped herself on her thigh. "That reminds me! I recently heard a rumor about some sort of warrior in azure colored armor."

"You mean there's a samurai running around in sky blue armor? What's so important about that?" Miroku asked, rubbing his sore head.

"That's the thing, he's not a samurai. I heard he's from far west of the mainland."

"You mean he's from Europe." Kagome stated.

"Yeah, they call him a knight I think."

Kagome nodded. "Yes that's right." She thought for a moment. "What would a European knight be doing in Japan?"

I was getting bored of all this talk about this ah-sure night or whatever. If he ain't bothering me then he's fine. "Feh. What are you getting so worked up about anyway? S'not like he's bothering anyone."

Sango shrugged. "I just thought it be something worth while too keep in mind. He sounds like bad news to me."

"Chh, in what way? How his armor could be seen from a mile away? What's with that blue armor anyway?"

Sango sighed, irritated. "Like I said, it's just a rumor. Fragments could've been added, left out, or forgotten."

"Oh, like 'Telephone'." Kagome said, jumping into the convo. Everyone just stared at her.

"Uh, I hope you realize not everyone is from your time Kagome! What the hell is a telly-fone!?" Kagome shot me a shut-up-and-I-will-explain-it look.

"It's a game where a group of people sit in a circle and one person whispers a word or phrase into the ear of the person next to them. Then that person repeats the word or phrase to the person next to them. It keeps going and going until the last person shouts out what they heard last and it's never what was originally said." She giggled. "I've heard the phrase 'school's almost over' change to 'don't say a word'."

"That sounds fun!" Shippo shouted as he leaped onto Kagome's lap. "Can we play it?!"

I almost shuddered at the idea of playing that stupid game. Who'd want to sit in a circle, passing a phrase around like gossiping old ladies? I sure as hell wouldn't! "Count me out," I said standing, "I have no desire whatsoever to play your stupid games." I stalked off. I've got better things to do with my time, like snapping Naraku's neck or figuring out the meaning behind that dream last night. Or should I say nightmare.

A Brief Interlude

"I have no desire whatsoever to play your stupid games." Everyone watched in silence as the half demon stalked off toward the large irrigation ditches behind the village.

Miroku sighed. "Now what's wrong with him?" The young monk and the demon slayer turned their attention to Kagome, expecting and answer.

Kagome's head was down and she was fiddling with her chop sticks, hoping to avoid the question by pretending that she hadn't heard Miroku's question, or seen her friends turn their heads toward her. Shippo looked questioningly from one teen to the other, and back again.

"Kagome? You know something don't you." Miroku stated, sounding more like a confirmation rather than a question.

Kagome sighed. _'Well it's not like it's a secret or anything.' _Kagome shifted in position, shifting her legs to the side so all her weight was on her hip. She raised her head, not making eye contact to her friends. "He had another dream," She said, shrugging her shoulders. "One of _those _dreams."

"He's been having those a lot lately, hasn't he?" Sango said. "Maybe it's a sign?"

"Maybe," Kagome said, picking and invisible hair off her skirt. She silently hoped that it had nothing to do with the Priestess Kikyo.

Kagome's tried to be nice to her but the Priestess gives her the cold shoulder. Kikyo even tried to kill her once. She didn't succeed, but she did succeed in taking Kagome's half of the jewel. She handed it over to Naraku and then lied about it to Inuyasha. Kagome now knows that letting Naraku have all the shards was just part of her plan to destroy him.

Kagome shuddered at the bitter memory. Since then, she always felt a sort of uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was because of Kikyo's cold, unfeeling eyes that held no emotion, or how her voice was always coated in bitterness even after she had found out about how it was Naraku who set up that trap for her and Inuyasha. Or maybe she just plain didn't trust the Priestess.

"Well," Kagome said, snapping out of her thoughts. "I'd like to ask him more about those dreams, but I think we should leave him alone for a while."

All but Sango nodded and returned to eating. She just knew that the strange, European knight in azure colored armor and Inuyasha's dreams were connected. _'I mean, why else would he be having those dreams? He never had them before we met up with Naraku or any other strong enemy. So, why now?' _A chill ran up Sango's spine, _'Ohhh I've got a bad feeling about this!'_

* * *

The sky was broken and distorted because of the branches that hung over head. The only light that was guiding the two dark figures was from the moon. Although it was pitch black out, the two had no trouble dodging the trees in the dense woods.

'_Hmmm,' _a young man with black hair, cascading down his back and stopping just below his knees, thought. _'So many people want to kill this 'Inuyasha' person.'_

The team had just encountered a rather aristocratic demon with armor, long and silver hair, and some sort of long, fluffy pelt on his shoulder. He was the third demon they had encountered that wished Inuyasha dead in the three, short weeks they've been in Japan.

The first one, whose face was hidden because he wore the mask of a baboon, seemed to want Inuyasha dead just because he said so. Or, at least that's what it sounded like to the team. The second one was a wolf demon with black hair, tied back in a pony tail and hung between his shoulder blades, wanted Inuyasha dead because of what seemed to be jealousy. 'As soon as I get than mangy mutt out of the picture I'll finally be able to make Kagome my woman!' he had said. After that, he raced off, kicking up a tornado of dirt behind him, with two companions begging him to slow down.

"Chase," a bubbly voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Chase, what are you thinking about?"

Chase looked down at his companion. She was a cute, petite girl with blonde hair and curls. His companion was a witch with white cat ears and a poofy cat tail, both with brown tips.

Chase smiled. "I was just thinking about our past encounters we had." He had a sudden thought. "Jin," Jin had to crane he neck back to look Chase in the eye because he was 6'2" and she was 5'1". "How would you like to pay this 'Inuyasha' a visit? I'm sure we can find time to 'play' with him." He grinned wickedly.

Jin's face lit up. "Ohhh I'm sure Chancy would love a new play-mate!" she said, conjuring up her favorite minion. Of course they all looked the same, but this one had personality. She giggled as Chancy stood there, looking up at Jin. He was a small thing with a small body and a larger head. He had no hands or feet, just rounded stubs. He had large white eyes with no pupil and an antennae sticking out of the top of his head. He had a long scar, stretching from the top of his head to the bottom, crossing over his left eye.

"Chaaaancccccyy!" Jin sang his name. "Do you want a new 'friend'?" She giggled as Chancy made a little noise that meant he was happy.

Jin leaned against Chase, grinning flirtatiously. "So Chase, when do we get to see him? You know how impatient Chancy gets."

Chase half-smiled back. "You'll have to keep him busy, Jin. I still don't know where he is….But that shouldn't be a problem for long."

"Ah-greed! A big, strong man like you is sure to find him within a week!" she giggled again.

Chase joined in but for a different reason. _'Those poor fools,' _he thought. _'They're lucky. They won't have time to suffer….Unlike the rest of this world.'_

* * *

****

And that's the end of that! I don't really have much to say about anything down here.

Flames are welcome and so are reviews! Please let me know what you think! Thoughts of the readers are very important to the writer!

Thank you!


	2. One Answer Equals Two Questions

**Hello! It's me again! I don't know how many times I'm going to be re-uploading these but I'm here to let you know that you are currently wittnessing me in my epic and heroic quest to bring One Day, One Night out of hiding! Yes, yes, I am currently thinking up chapter 5! (I'm re-writting ch. 5 btw.) However, the original muse has left me so I'm gonna have to come up with something completely new........but I just really want to finish this! It isn't fair to those who read this or to those who are loyally waiting for me to update. But are there any left who want to read this? Either way, even if no one ever reviews this again, I'm also going to be posting it for my own benefit. Maybe as I continue this I can make it better. **

**So I've started with a few changes. Well, only one change. Sakura's name has been changed to Sheena. Don't ask why. Personal reasons.**

**Anyways, chapter 5 will take a while to come out since I'm re-thinking the basis for the story. I don't know what I'll do!**

**So, I do not own Inuyasha at all.**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 2: One Answer Equals Two Questions

"Inuyasha!"

I turn toward the sound of my name being called only to find myself face to face with an arrow. It pierced my chest sending a shock of pain throughout my body. I crash into a tree, the arrow holding me there.

The jewel flies out of my hand. I reach for it, but the damn arrow in my chest keeps me from catching it. It bounces and rolls in front of a woman with long black hair and pale skin – and a wounded shoulder.

Kikyo.

"Ki…Kikyo...I thought…ugh!"

Suddenly the scene before me changed. I was still in the forest but I was no longer pinned to the tree. There was also a dark figure standing a few yards in front of me. I couldn't make out any details but I knew it was a woman.

"Beware…" she spoke in a soft voice, just above a whisper. There was a rustling noise behind her. She whipped her head around. I scanned the area feeling a bit paranoid. This was already creepy enough without the boogie man popping up and screaming "I wiwll eat joo!"

The woman turned back to me and took a small step forward. She leaned in and spoke in an even quieter voice than before.

"Beware he who roams in the shadows."

"He who- What are you talking about?!" I asked aggravated.

"Shhh!" she hissed. There was more rustling in the background. The woman looked behind her again.

My right hand reached for Tetsusaiga's hilt. I grabbed nothing. The blood beneath my skin boiled. "Where the hell is my sword!?!"

The woman's head whipped back at me. She raised a finger to her barred teeth. "Shhh!" she hissed again. "Please will you just…"

"I'm not doing _anything_ until you give my sword back!!" I snarled.

"Quiet!" she whisper shouted. "If you keep on shouting then…" Bang. Crash….Boom. Whatever was lurking behind her heard us.

"Listen fast!" she continued whisper shouting. "Don't listen to him! He's lying, you can't trust him! He'll try to turn you away from your goal!"

She kept on talking and I kept on getting more and more confused. When she paused for a minute, I pounced at the chance to squeeze info from her.

"Who are you talking about?! Who's 'he'?! And are you talking about my goal to defeat Naraku?!" If there's a guy who wants to stop me from snapping Naraku's neck, I sure as hell would like to know who it is!

The woman shook her head frantically. She continued to whisper quickly. "No not…" she was cut off when a tree was uprooted. Dirt flew everywhere, choking us. She gave up on trying to be quiet. "Not Naraku! Someone much more dangerous! More lethal!" Another tree flew out of the ground. She started to make a run for it.

"Wait! Who are you?! Why do you know so much?!" Another tree bites the dust.

"You'll see me soon enough." She covered her head as a tree right next to her was uprooted. She looked back at me and this time I could see her face. I forced myself to remember it in case what she said was true. "Remember:" she started. "No matter what happens, I'm you're friend Inuyasha." After that she took off running into the woods.

I stood there completely dumbfounded. How does a woman I've never met know my name? Oh yeah. This is a dream. Then where in my subconscious did _she _come from?? I mean the way she looked….Maybe she really _is _a real person?

My thoughts were interrupted when I was approached by a large, dark figure. I took a step forward and bended my knees, holding my ground. My eyes never left it as it stepped into the light. I prepared myself for whatever was about to come….

As if it were planned, I immediately woke up. I had fallen asleep in a tree branch. I was sweating again. I raised my arm and rested my forehead on my wrist. After a while I pulled my arm away, wiping off the layer of sweat. Another dream. Damn, I'm getting sick of these. I leaned back against the tree and thought about the new addition to the dream.

Let's see, 'Beware he who lurks in the shadows….Don't listen to him, he's lying, you can't trust him….He'll try to turn you away from your goal….Not Naraku….Someone more dangerous, more lethal….' Apparently I'm going to be thrown onto a case with a dangerously strong enemy. Oh yeah, that's nice. I went back to analyzing everything that woman said. 'You'll see me soon enough' and 'No matter what happens, I'm your friend Inuyasha.'

"Inuyasha!" I looked down to see Kagome calling. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Just a sec." I leapt down from the tree. I landed and looked at Kagome. "Where are we going?" _'I'll tell her later.' _I decided.

"We haven't decided yet." Kagome answered, hauling her backpack over her shoulder. "Sango thinks we should just leave the village for a while and see what happens."

I shrugged. "If we have no other leads."

"Alright." She said and we began walking.

About five minutes later Kagome spoke again.

"Hey, Inuyasha?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hnn?"

She nervously rubbed her hands together, putting me on edge. "Um, i-if something was on your mind….you know you can talk to me about it right? I mean you can really tell me anything." She looked up at me with her brown eyes.

I sighed, knowing where she was going with this. "I know you're all curious about these dreams I'm having. I will tell you, just, not right now."

Kagome nodded. I could tell she was a little disappointed. Neither of us said anything else as we continued to head toward our friends.

A Brief Interlude

Generally Sango did like Miroku. He's a nice guy and could be polite when he wanted to. He's smart and a valuable asset to the team. But there was one debasing quality of his that no amount of his wit, charm, or kindness could make up for. The guy's a complete lecher.

"Would you bear my child?" was the infamous question he asked any and every pretty young lady.

Sango and Miroku stood by their breakfast tree, awaiting the arrival of Inuyasha and Kagome. Shippo was playing with Kirara in a nearby field.

Sango's breath caught as she felt a hand slide down her back. It grazed over the small of her back and landed just below it. She raised her hand and brought it down hard on Miroku's face, conjuring up a loud popping noise. Her face was red with fury as she stared down the monk whose face was red from the hard contact with Sango's hand.

"Pervert!" the angry demon-slayer spat.

"You misunderstand," Miroku said. A lecherous smile stretched across his face. "I was only trying to take your mind off of whatever was worrying you. It'd be a shame if wrinkles soiled that pretty face of yours."

By that time Kagome had returned with Inuyasha, and Sango had a reason to turn her blushing face away. She had no idea why she got so flustered whenever Miroku said such things to her. She tried to reason with herself that it was only because it was the first time a man, apart from her relatives, had said something like that to her. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that said otherwise. It was all very confusing and hard to think about, what with everything that was happening at the moment.

Sango sighed, deciding to think about it later and went to join her companions in discussing their next move.

Chapter 2 cont.

"Don't forget you owe me a bowl of ramen."

Kagome looked at me skeptically. "What? Why?"

I tapped my index finger to my temple "Remember the bet we made as we were walking back? I said that Miroku would be grouping Sango by the time we got back, but you defended him, saying that they would only be alone for about five minutes. I placed a bowl of ramen on that." At that time we were passing through a dense forest. It was slightly dim because the suns rays were broken and fractured because of the leaves.

Kagome huffed. "We never made a bet! Jeeze if you wanted ramen that badly all you had to do was ask!"

"Hey! If I asked for some, then you would've gotten all pissed because I'd rather have 'highly-carbonated, over-processed junk' instead of the food that you 'slaved over a hot stove for hours' trying to complete. Your words, not mine." Doesn't she realize that people in this time don't have ramen at there fingertips?

"I would not have!" Kagome shouted back.

We continued bickering until Kagome growled in annoyance and turned around to walk with Sango. Damn are _all _women this complicated or is she just special!?

Time passed and it slowly grew dark. Everyone was tired and cranky from doing nothing but walking all day. We passed by several villages but nothing happened. No jewel shard, no Naraku, we even passed a large lake and not even a Kraken popped up! Multiple times I found myself thinking of the recent dream I had. I analyzed and re-analyzed everything that woman said, but every time I thought about it the less clear it became. It seemed like whenever I had an answer that was even remotely possible, a million more questions would pop up! I frowned as I considered telling the others about the dream. Maybe Sango or Miroku might have an idea about it.

"Everyone," I said stopping. "We need to talk."

We all gathered around as I told them everything that happened in the dream.

"I see," Miroku said. "And what does this woman look like?"

I closed my eyes trying to remember. "She had pale skin and full pink lips. She had sharp features and high cheek-bones. Her eyes were large and forest green. She had thick, dark brown hair that was straight and curled at the ends. It hung just below her shoulders."

"She sounds beautiful." Miroku said with a lecherous look on his face.

"She sounds like she's not from Japan." Sango said, sounding annoyed.

"Inuyasha, you said you didn't know this woman?" Kagome asked. I could be wrong but did I hear a note of jealousy in her voice?

I nodded, answering her question. She continued. "So you have no relation with her at all?"

"No."

"Should we be on the lookout for this woman?" Sango asked.

"Yes." Miroku said a little too quickly.

"Maybe we should let her find us." Kagome suggested. "If this woman is real and she was able to contact Inuyasha in his dreams, she should have no problem finding us."

"Well whatever." Shippo said bouncing into Kagome's lap. "The sun's going down and I'm tired. Let's talk more about this tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning I was the first one up. I had the same dream as before, the one with the woman, only this time it skipped the whole pinned-to-the-tree part. Nothing was different. I still had no sword, she still said the same things, I still shouted like an idiot causing that monster to find us, and I still didn't see it when it came towards me.

It was still pretty early in the morning, probably a little after dawn. Everything still had that sorta gray, early morning feel. I was just about to fall back asleep when I heard a loud shriek. Everyone was jerked awake after that.

"Well what are we waiting for?!" I shouted. "Let's go!" We started running towards the source of the scream.

We came upon a village being attacked by what seemed to be large birds. They were large and black with – Where are their faces?! It just looked like hole that was thin near the neck and stretched out like a funnel! And it was covered in spikes! Are they even birds?! Or —?

"Wh-what are those?!" Shippo cried, shaking.

I remember what those are. I remember my mother telling me stories about those dark times. I know what they are called. I know but I couldn't speak. I couldn't even move. I was frozen with shock….What the hell is going on here?! First that Un-Dead and now those! They shouldn't be here! They should be dead! The Shadow King should be trapped in the state between life and death! He should be….but…is he?

"Skalons?! But shouldn't they be —?"

"Yeah," I said, cutting Sango off. "Yeah they _should_ be….But they 'aint."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see and arrow fly through the air, piercing one of the Skalon's wings. It made a screeching noise and turned around, looking for its attacker.

"Got it!" Kagome exclaimed, balling up her fist.

"Watch out!" Sango hurled the Hiraikotsu at the wounded creature that was heading towards us.

The rest of the Skalons noticed one of their own was down. They started screeching like crazy. They flew in circles, looking for the one who'd killed their brother. I unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and leapt up in the air.

"Take this you nasty bird!" I shouted. I brought the Tetsusaiga down hard on the thing's head, making it burst inward.

Around me I could see the others doing what they could to help. Kagome was on the ground shooting as many birds as she could. Sango and Miroku were on Kirara. Sango was attacking the ones farther away with the Hiraikotsu and Miroku was attacking the ones that got too close with his staff.

Eventually all the Skalons were gone and the ground was covered in their thick, black blood. Sango and Miroku were both back on the ground and Kirara was back in her true form. Kagome came over to me with Shippo, who was hiding the whole time, right behind her.

A village elder approached us. She bowed and opened her mouth to speak.

"Thank you kind sirs and ladies, I do not know what would have happened, had you not showed up."

"No problem," I said. "Now listen, can you tell me how this happened?"

The old woman shook her head. "I cannot. Those things just started attacking with no reason."

"Wait!" shouted a voice from the crowd. A small boy made his way to the front of the crowd. He stared wide-eyed at me. I could tell he was torn between running and wanting to touch my ears.

"M-mister, I think those birds were told to attack the village. Right after you killed them, I saw girl in the trees. She ran as soon as she caught me looking at her."

My eyes widened as I thought of the woman in my dreams." "Kid, did she have straight brown that curled at the ends?!"

"N-no. She um…she had long yellow hair, with um, two cat ears and a fluffy tail."

Well she wasn't the woman in my dream but she was definitely suspicious. I sighed. "Okay where did she go?"

The boy pointed directly behind him. "That way."

I was about to move in that direction when I remembered something else from my dream: 'Don't listen to him. He's lying you can't trust him.' Could this boy be the 'he' that woman was talking about?

I narrowed my eyes at the kid raised an eyebrow. The kid gulped.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked confused.

I kneeled down and looked at the kid at eye level. "You sure?"

The kid's eyes widened. Whispers started throughout the crowd. "Um y-yes! I'm sure!" he squeaked.

I leaned in just a bit. "You're not lying are you?"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.

The kid gulped again and shook his head frantically. "N-no sir!"

"Hey stop scaring the kid, half-breed!" someone from the crowed shouted at me.

I growled under my breath and leaned in closer. "'Cause if you _are _lying —''

"Inuyasha, sit!" I face-planted the ground. The kid took off running toward his parents.

I growled and jumped back up to my feet. "The hell was _that _for?!" I shouted at Kagome.

"You were scaring that kid!" she shouted right back. "What's your problem?!"

"Well what's yours?!"

"I just told you!"

"Did not!"

"Did too! Ugh you're being unreasonable!"

"I am not!"

"Will you both shut up?!" Miroku shouted. "We've got a lead now, so let's follow it!" Miroku headed off in the direction the boy pointed in with Sango and Shippo right behind him.

"Hmph!" Kagome huffed and stomped away.

"Hey!" I shouted after them.

A Brief Interlude

"I did as you asked." Jin said walking up to Chase, her tail swishing with every step she took. "Although I think they might be on our tail a little sooner than we hoped. A little kid saw me and no doubt he told that Inuyasha what he saw."

Chase tilted his head as he thought this through. He was leaning up against a tree. His left knee was bent and the sole of his foot rested against the tree. His arms were crossed and a black silk cloak was draped over his slender shoulders. He wore a navy silk kimono with black leather pants. On his feat he wore leather boots that covered his feet and laced up his calves in a criss-cross pattern. It was much lighter and easier to move in than the bulky, azure colored armor he had stolen in Europe a few weeks back. He'd offered a similar outfit to Jin, insisting it would be easier to move in, but she turned it down for something more feminine.

She wore a pink traditional Japanese kimono, only it went down to her mid thigh. Patterns of ivy, flowers, and Sakura trees spiraled all over the fabric, creating an intricate design. The sleeves were long but they were tied back, making it a little less conservative. Instead of folding the fabric across her chest like a kimono should be worn, Jin draped the edges around her shoulders so it would show the top of her shoulders and expose her collar bone. A mint green obi completed the look and held the kimono together. The ends of the obi were pulled together in a huge bow. On her feet she wore black leather boots that covered the bottoms of her feet and the back of her legs and ended just below her kimono. Strings laced up from her feet and held the boots together. Keeping her edgy style, she tied her hair back with a ribbon that was rainbow with black stripes.

"Hell-oo? Did you hear me?" Jin shook her hand in front of Chase's face. "They should be heading this way! What're we gonna do?"

Chase raised his hand, pushing Jin's back slightly. "Relax, Jin." He said in a seductive voice. "I've thought this through. Do you honestly think I'd be stupid enough to miss such a large kink?"

Jin stuck out her bottom lip in a pouting way. "Boooo! You made plans without telling me?"

Chase stood up straight. "I've lost tons of sleep thinking this through, exploring every possibility, weighing the pros and cons of each and every move. How can I remember what I've told you and what I haven't when I'm walking around half-dead?"

Jin furrowed her eyebrows and stuck her hand on Chase's forehead.

Chase just stared at her. "And you're doing what exactly?"

"You seem a little edgy," Jin answered. "Is it a calcium deficiency?"

Chase rolled his eyes.

Jin removed her hand. "Okay being serious now. Our original plan was to get Inuyasha and the others thinking that something waco is going on. Then, I'd send one of my cute lil' minions to spy on them and I'd be able to see what they were doing from the special camera spell I placed on it. Now, the group knows what I look like and is probably looking for me right now. What do we do?"

Chase locked his eyes with Jin's. He raised an eyebrow and raised a corner of his mouth in a half-smile that said 'I've got it all figured out 'cause I'm awesome like that.' "We lie low in the grass in the grass and wait to pounce. But for now, we disappear without a trace."

Chapter 2 cont.

You ever get so excited or happy that all you can do is smile like an idiot? Or you grab the person next to you and give them a huge hug? Or you scream so loud and long you loose your voice _and _pass out from lack of oxygen? Yeah well, that's the _opposite _of how I feel at the moment. That times a thousand. And that's just putting it mild.

I was getting angrier by the second. We were at least a few miles from the village and we found nothing. "Dammit!" I shouted, punching a tree. "We're back to square one! It's all that kid's fault! He was lying! I knew it, I knew it, I KNEW IT!!" I dropped down into a sitting position, folding my arms across my chest.

Kagome kneeled down next to me. "Why would the kid lie?"

I glared at her. "Remember what that woman said in my dream? 'You can't trust him, he's lying'? Well I was being cautious with that kid. He's a he after all."

Kagome's face became a black stare. "So that's why you were scaring him? To see if he was lying?"

"'Duh! What else?" After I said that, well I guess you could say all hell broke loose.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Kagome shouted at me.

"My God, man, you're dense!" Miroku shouted, and hit me with his staff.

"Why would a _kid _be in cahoots with a sorceress?!" Sango shouted last.

"What's going on?" Shippo asked, jumping in the circle.

Before anyone could answer, Miroku grabbed him. "Stay away from him, Shippo! He's the highest rank of stupidity!"

"Um, I kinda knew that already…" Shippo said. Brat.

"Hey! Hold up for a second!" I yelled, standing up. "Why the hell are you all ganging up on me for?!"

"It's _your _fault for being so stupid!" Kagome shouted right in my face. "That kid was too scared and confused to be lying to you!"

"Sh-shut up! I was only being cautious!"

"Inuyasha," Kagome growled. I could practically see the flames in her eyes. I knew what would happen next. I gulped.

"SIT!"

* * *

After more yelling and 'sit' commands, everyone finally left me alone and we continued walking. It grew dark and we made camp in a small clearing. Everyone was off doing there own things. Kagome was playing with Shippo, Sango was petting Kirara, and Miroku was watching Sango obviously thinking something perverted. I was sitting next to a large rock—large enough to sit on, watching Kagome and thinking absolutely nothing. Well, nothing perverted.

It just made me wonder how she could put up with small brats like Shippo. If there was a kid that was plastered all over me like a wet towel, I'd tell it to shove off. Yet Kagome constantly played stupid games with Shippo and showed no signs of annoyance or gave anyone 'Help me!' looks. Maybe it's because of her younger brother Souta. But after all the times I've been over there I've _never _seen him act all clingy like Shippo.

Suddenly Kagome looked up and caught me staring. I twitched. Then she smiled at me and went back to playing with Shippo. Boy her moods change quick! First she's yelling at me for pickin' on a kid and now she's acting as if nothing happened!

I turn my head away and catch Miroku staring at me. One of his eyebrows was raised in confusion. He looked at Kagome and then back at me. Then he widened his eyes at me. I growled and shot him a look that said 'No you stupid pervert!' He just lowered his head and shook it slowly back and forth. I growled again. I looked over at the rock I was sitting next to. I found a nice sized rock, about the size of my palm, squeezed it then hurled it right at Miroku's head.

He looked up just in time to see the rock flying right at him and he ducked. Lucky bastard! If he hadn't moved I would've nailed him right on the top of his head! Teach _him _to mess with me!

The girls heard Miroku's yelp and the rock hit the tree and looked up to see what happened. I walked over to Miroku, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him into the trees. I could feel the girls' curious looks on my back.

"Let me go, I can walk!" Miroku protested when we were a ways away from camp. I dropped him.

"What was _that _for?!" he said standing up.

I whirled around. "It's not _like _that!" I snarled.

"Not like what?" Miroku asked, brushing dirt off his robe.

"With me and Kagome! It's not like that! Is your mind directly wired to perversion?! Don't you _ever _have a clean, sensible thought?!"

"It didn't take you long for you to go off. Is something wrong?"

I huffed. "I'm tired from running nonstop for a few miles and not getting enough sleep from those dreams, we haven't had anything to eat since yesterday morning, I'm pissed that the _one _lead we had turned out to be crappy," I clenched my hands. "I have no clue _who _that woman in my dream is, an Un-Dead has popped up and now Skalons—what next a HeniiReed?! And your sick mind _always _pisses me off! You wanna know what's wrong? Why don't you pick a choice from the list I just gave you? It doesn't matter which one, they're all eligible!" I took in a shuttering breath and let it out slowly. I hadn't realized that I was clenching my hands so hard my nails dug into my skin. I looked at the eight punctures in my hands. They weren't gushing blood, but they were still bleeding pretty badly. Kagome would have a fit.

"Inuyasha," Miroku started. His voice was much softer. It was like he pitied me. "I understand how you feel. I can understand how you would feel anxious about this. Naraku is already a challenge eno—''

"I can beat that bastard!" I shouted, cutting him off.

Miroku held up a hand. "Let me talk, Inuyasha, please." His hand lowered. "We face some problems with Naraku and now you're told that you will go up against someone even stronger than him and much more lethal. Who wouldn't be a little edgy? It's late and I'm tired. We'll talk more about this after a good nights sleep and when we have some food in our systems….And you should probably get your hands bandaged."

"Keh. I'm fine." I crossed my arms and followed him back to camp.

A Brief Interlude

"Sheena…I think we're lost…" the boy said, adjusting his black cape.

"Shut up cricket ball! We are not lost!" Sheena said, inspecting the ground.

The boy, known as Leon, sighed. "What's the list again?"

Sheena stood up and touched her right index finger to her left. "Okay…First was the giant oak tree…" She touched her right index finger to her left middle finger, counting off the locations.

"Oh can't miss that." Leon said sarcastically, referring to the forest…of giant oak trees.

Sheena continued. "Second was the bush shaped like a cat…"

"Yeah with a beak. I'm telling you, it was a chicken!"

Sheena rolled her eyes, counting off her left ring finger. "Then was the big rock called 'Big Rock'…"

"Very creative."

"Shut up! I didn't name it! Then it was the giant tree with bee hives."

"We passed that tree _three _times! Face it sweetheart, we're lost!" Whenever Leon was pissed with Sheena, he called her 'sweetheart'. They weren't a couple or anything; he just did it to annoy the heck out of her. She hated it almost more than she hated the color pink.

"_Red and white," _she once said. _"Two pretty and respectable colors met one night and had fun together. Then they had an ugly offspring. Shows what can happen when you drink too much sake."_

Leon's forehead creased with worry. "We were supposed to find them and hour ago. The ol' coot's gonna have our hides for a new robe. Aren't you worried?"

Sheena looked back at Leon and stood her full five feet, eleven inches. She raised her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. "To doubt my navigation skills is to doubt my awesome abilities."

Leon rolled his cobalt blue eyes. "Narcissist."

"And don't you forget it."

They began walking again, Leon's eyes looking ahead and Sheena's eyes on the ground.

"Wait!" Sheena said as she knelt down to inspect the ground. "I see tracks! Male and female!" Sheena whipped her head around ant looked up at Leon, seriousness clouding her eyes. "I think it's them!"

Leon knelt down to inspect the ground himself. His fingertips traced along the edges of what Sheena said to be the male tracks. He slowly raised his blue eyes and locked them with Sakura's dark ones. "Sheena," he said as if he were talking to a five-year-old. "These are _our _tracks."

Sheena's eyes widened as she looked back at the tracks. He was right. "Aaah everybody's a critic!" she said, pouting. She began drawing random patterns in the dirt. "Hmmm." She said. She furrowed her brow. She snapped to attention, her eyes regaining their usual sparkle. "Leon," she said turning around to face him. "A seed has been planted in my brain and is beginning to grow!" she said with much enthusiasm. "Ping!" she sang, indicating she had an idea.

Leon rolled his eyes. "What's your idea?"

Sheena pounced on Leon. "What if we sent them a message?"

Leon's brow creased in confusion. "Huh? We don't know where they are!"

"No not _that _kind of message! A magic one! You know the one where you think of the person you want to send the message to and then you see an image of that person, and you just tell them the message!"

"Aaaaaah! I get it! Sheena, I like the way you think!"

Sheena giggled and got off Leon. She stood up and smoothed out her black tunic.

Leon stood up next to her. "Where would I be without you?"

"In front of a tavern with a wooden bucket shouting 'Alms for the poor!'"

"Not literally you idiot!"

Sheena giggled and the two continued walking under the starry sky, looking for a place to camp.

Chapter 2 cont.

I don't remember falling asleep. I don't even remember waking up. It's like I'm suddenly awake and everyone else is asleep. But I do no that I_ was _asleep at some point or another.

When me and Miroku got back to camp, everyone started asking questions. They wanted to know why I threw that rock, why I dragged Miroku into the woods, and what we were talking about. I didn't answer them. I just left them hanging without so much as a reassurance that everything is okay. There's no point in lying about something like that. Even if you say that everything is fine, everyone can still tell that it's not.

Everything was mostly a haze after that. I remember that Kagome bandaged up my hands, but I don't remember if I tried to resist or not. I remember that there was a fire and that someone had found food. I don't remember eating.

And then—BAM! I'm here and awake! I can't exactly explain it but something just feels weird. It feels like I've forgotten something…

And then it hit me—there wasn't a dream. This was the first night in weeks that there was no dream. No questions I need to think through, no burden I need to carry. There was nothing. And if felt good.


	3. Trust Before Doubt

**A continuation of my epic and heroic quest to bring One Day, One Night out of hiding. No changes except for Sakura's name.**

**I do not own Inuyasha.**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Trust Before Doubt

I woke up to the sound of a yelp. My eyes snap open. Across from me I see Kagome yanking a brush through her hair. I let myself relax.

"Hey." I said stretching. I felt good to be able to sleep the entire night without any dreams that make no sense and no questions that are impossible to answer.

"Good morning!" Kagome replied cheerfully.

I looked around the camp. _That's strange_. I thought to myself. _Where'd everyone go?_

"Kagome, where're Sango and Miroku?"

"Sango went to go find food and Miroku's at a nearby town to look for some information." Kagome said. "Oh for the love of…!" Kagome's sleeping bag had just unraveled right after she had finished rolling it up. She tried again. "C'mon, you worthless piece of cloth…roll up…" I heard her mumbling to herself.

I laughed once. Kagome shot me a questioning look. I shrugged in return. Humans from her time are so ironic. They come up with all these crazy what-'cha-ma-call-its that they claim will make their lives easier, when all they really do is make even more of a hassle.

I folded my arms behind my head and yawned. "And how 'nearby' is nearby?"

"One, maybe two, miles away." Kagome shrugged. She looked over at me. "You look well rested." She commented.

I smirked. "No dream last night. Best damn sleep I had in weeks!"

"Morning!" Sango greeted as she returned the camp. She was carrying two rabbits in one hand. She sat next to Kagome. Kagome stared at the two dead animals. I snickered at her disgusted face.

"You wouldn't be_lieve _how hard it was to catch these guys!" she said, gesturing to the rabbits. "I didn't even hear a single bird."

"Oh you're right!" Kagome chimed in. "I was wondering what was so strange this morning." She looked at the bird-less sky. "Do you suppose that's a bad thing?"

"Probably," Sango said as she pulled out a knife. "Animals can usually sense things a human can't. Maybe there's something that's posing as a threat." She raised her arm, and in one swift motion, Sango had the animal skinned.

"Ack!" was all Kagome could say.

Sango wiped the knife on the ground. She looked at Kagome. "What?" she asked.

"Uhhhhhh…" was Kagome's only answer as she stared at the animal's bloody pelt on the ground.

In another swift motion, Sango had sliced the rabbit's stomach. Blood bubbled to the top.

"Eeeck! Sango!" Kagome shrieked.

"_What_?" Sango asked, obviously missing the point.

"Y-you just cut the rabbits stomach!" Kagome stuttered, pointing a shacking finger at the bloody rabbit.

"Um, yeah. I'm cleaning it. If you run out of food, you have to hunt for it. And if you're planning on eating what you catch, you need to know how to clean it. Here I'll teach you." Sango moved the rabbit closer to Kagome.

Kagome leapt to her feet. "N-no, that's fine! I…need to tie my shoe....Over there!"

Sango raised an eyebrow at her. "Your shoes are tied, Kagome."

"Well then I need to clean them."

Sango smirked. She found out what Kagome was trying to do. "They're shoes, Kagome. They were made to get dirty."

"Then I need to fix them." She tried again.

"They don't need fixing." Sango countered. She was thoroughly enjoying this."

I stood up grinning. There's no way I'm going to pass up a chance like _this_!

"Um…Over there!" Kagome shouted. She tried to run off but I grabbed her.

"No, I think this is an important lesson you need to learn. What if you're out here alone and you have no food?"

"E-evil! You're all evil, you evil friends!" she stuttered.

"Awww we're just kidding!" Sango said placing her arm around her friends shaking shoulder.

"Yeah. Besides, you're just so fun to tease." I knocked my knuckles against her forehead. I quickly pulled my hand away when I realized her forehead was sweating up. Her face was pale too.

"Hmph." I said. "You can't seriously be nervous around blood can you? This is the _warring _states. Key word: War."

She glared at me. "I'm not nervous around blood! If I was, I wouldn't have come back after Yura!" she looked away. "It's just seeing an animal being…" she shuddered at the thought.

I snorted. "You're too soft." I walked back over to my tree.

"Well," Sango said sitting back down. "I'd better finish these. Sorry again for teasing you."

Kagome nodded and then moved to a spot where she couldn't see the dead animal being mangled.

In less then ten minutes, Sango had a fire going and was cooking the rabbits on a spit. I could hear the fat on the rabbits sizzling and it smelled good. I headed over to the fire and ripped of a piece. My stomach growled and I dug in. Soon, Kagome joined us. She pulled of a piece of her own and began eating.

It was really good. The meat was so tender; it literally slid right off the bone. I reached for another piece.

"Hope you saved some for me!" Miroku shouted. He plopped down next Sango and reached for the rabbits as if he's never seen food before. He ripped of a chunk and greedily dug into it. When He was finished he reached for another piece and bit into it.

"Did you find anything?" Sango asked.

Miroku swallowed and licked his lips. "The town was abuzz with about a strange team that passed through. From what I heard, there was a male and a female."

I licked some grease of my thumb. "What did the female look like?"

"I'm afraid she wasn't the woman from your dream or the one that that kid described from the village that was attacked by the Skalons. This one had black hair down to her waist and dark eyes. I heard she's very beautiful…" he said with a lecherous look in his eyes.

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" I fake snored.

Miroku ignored me. "From what I hear, she sounds like a very interesting character."

"In what way?" Kagome asked. By that time, Shippo had woken up and began eating.

Miroku shrugged. "I can't really explain it. She had a sort of sarcastic aspect about her—more than Inuyasha." I snorted at that. Again, Miroku ignored me. "I also heard she seems to be a sort of airhead. She also threw her boot at her companion."

"Miroku, did you find anything….Oh I dunno….IMPORTANT?!" If he gives me a full report on some strange girl, I'm going to the village myself to find info and I'm gonna use _him _as a doormat!

Miroku's face lit up. "Oh, rightrightright!" Wait 'till you hear this! I also heard that she can use magic! I don't know the details, but that's what I heard. She may know something."

That's….not exactly the most promising lead I've heard, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. "Did you find out where they went?"

I just learned that they were headed someplace north. They seemed to be looking for someone."

"Well," I said, standing up. "Let's head north then."

* * *

"Wait! There's some water there!" Kagome broke out of the group and jogged toward the small pond. She pulled a few bottles out of her backpack and began filling them.

The rest of us didn't hesitate to follow. We finished off our supply of water about two hours ago. We were walking across a large plain and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we would've killed for even a sip of water. I kneeled at the edge and plunged my water flask shoulder deep into the clear pond. The water was ice-cold. My throat burned. I pulled the flask out and put it to my lips. I downed it in one gulp.

"This feels so good!" Sango exclaimed as she filled a flask of her own.

I pulled my flask away and wiped my mouth with the arm that wasn't drenched. I reached for a refill. After we finished re-hydrating ourselves, we started walking again.

"Hey, how long do you think we've been walking?" Kagome asked.

I shrug. "I dunno."

"Maybe about four, five hours. It's past noon." Sango answered. She was looking up at the position of the sun. She squinted from the light.

"Can we take a break?" Shippo asked from Kagome's shoulder.

"Why do _you _wanna take a break? You haven't walked a step!" I snapped.

Kagome defended him. "Shippo's right. I'm getting tired. We should rest for a bit."

I turned around to face Miroku and Sango, hoping that they would back me up and want to keep going, but they were already sitting on the ground. "We shouldn't stop until we find something!" I shouted.

"And then die from exhaustion?" Miroku asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Sorry, Inuyasha, but I don't think so."

I threw my hands into the air. "You humans are so weak! I could go on for another ten hours!"

"I'm sure you could." Sango said, taking a sip from her water flask. "But that doesn't change the fact that we can't."

"Kagome!" I shouted desperately. Hopefully _she'll _come!

"If you want, you can go on ahead. We'll catch up later." She yawned and stretched her arms over her head.

I just stared at them. Are they really that tired? Are they really so tired they'd rather stay here and let me go off alone? Would they really do that? Would _Kagome _really do that?!

"Feh." I said as I plopped down next to Kagome.

About five minutes later, I heard something. My ears twitched. I looked over my shoulder. There it was again.

"Something wrong?" Kagome asked.

"I think I heard something…" I replied.

Everyone stops what they were doing to try and listen.

"I…don't hear anything, Inuyasha." Sango said.

Kagome shook her head. "Me neither."

"It's kinda like a…swooshing noise. Like giant bat wings. There it is again.

"I hear it too." Shippo declared, tilting his head.

"Which direction is it coming from?" Miroku asked.

I waved my hand to my left. "Somewhere west."

And then the swooshing got louder. I heard everyone's breath catch in their throats. The swooshing sounded again, only this time a huge gust of air hits us out of nowhere. Everyone leapt to their feet.

"Wh—what is that!?" Shippo cried. He leaped into Kagome's arms.

My right hand moved towards Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Bet you 350 yen it's another monster from the Dark Times, Inuyasha." Miroku stated.

"Let's hope I'll be winning that bet!" I growled. I tightened my hold on Tetsusaiga's hilt and pulled out the sword. I leaned forward ready to fight.

* * *

I landed on the ground, clutching my side. Blood was seeping from the wound where the giant Massagon slashed me. My kimono was _not _made for protection against Dark Time monsters!

The air around us was so drenched in blood it was almost sickening. Everywhere you look there was blood; the thick, black blood of the Massagon and the blood from my friends.

"Inuyasha!" I heard someone shout. "Are you okay?!" It was Kagome.

I looked up at her. She was kneeling on a floating pink ball, a.k.a. Shippo in disguise. "Yeah, I'm fine." I answered. I turned my attention back to the Massagon

The Massagon raised its large head and emitted and earsplitting scream. My ears started ringing from the intense noise. Everything started going blurry and I was getting dizzy. Before I knew it, the Massagon swung its spiked tail and slammed into me. I went flying and skidded against the ground, leaving a trench behind me.

"Ow, my head." I said as I slowly sat up. My head was pounding and there was blood on my face from when the Massagon's tail hit me. I tried to stand but I fell over. I was vaguely aware of someone calling my name before I blacked out.

A Brief Interlude

"Inuyasha! INUYASHA!" Kagome desperately cried as she watched the half demon fall. "Shippo! Take me to Inuyasha!" she commanded.

Shippo was struck speechless by her request. "Don't you think that it's safer up here?!" he whimpered.

"Just do it!"

Shippo whimpered again but dashed to where Inuyasha lied. He just missed getting sliced by the Massagon's clawed arm.

The Massagon looked like a deformed dragon. It had a long neck that was about 100 feet long and had snakes attached to its head, thrashing violently. Its body was large and had strange skin that stretched over the Massagon's figure. It had a soft, yet metallic look and feel to it. Blood seeped from the wounds where the team had managed to inflict.

Its arms looked rather normal, save for its claws. Its claws were large, hooked, and gave off an eerie iridescent glow. A sort of solution dripped from them; poison. If the poison entered a human's bloodstream, it would spread throughout their body until it reached their heart, inflicting death instantly. However, being a half demon, Inuyasha was only knocked unconscious, and since he was cut at his side, fairly close to his heart, it didn't take long before he was out of it.

The Massagon's legs were much like its arms, but they lacked the murderous solution. Its tail was long, but half the length of its neck. The tail was covered in sharp spikes. The Massagon mostly uses its tail in as a weapon because it is able to coil its tail around its prey and squeeze. The spikes would cut deep into the victim's body, killing it.

When Inuyasha was sent flying by the Massagon's tail, the Massagon had hoped to capture him in an attempted kill. Massagons aren't very bright, and it didn't realize that Inuyasha was out of its range.

Like dragons, Massagons had wings. Yet unlike dragons, Massagon wings were larger and more bat like. Yet unlike any type of wing, Massagon wings were bent at odd and grotesque angles.

However, the most peculiar characteristic about a Massagon was its face. They had long snouts that seemed to be mashed at the end. Their sharp teeth poked out from its lips and saliva was constantly dripping. Gobs fell from its mouth and drenched the ground. Its eyes were large and yellow. A black string served as the pupil. It was so thin that you'd have to get right up next to it to see it. There were also many horns on a Massagon's face. Two large ones jutted out from the side of its snout and curved upward. Three medium sized horns were positioned on the brow above each eye and many small ones outlined the bottom of each eye.

Another scream sounded from the Massagon's throat. The shrill noise hit Shippo's sensitive ears and caused him to drop. After falling a few feet, he regained his flight and continued toward Inuyasha. Kagome had clamped her hands over her ears. Her ears may not be as sensitive as a demon's, but the noise was still loud enough to hurt.

Shippo neared the ground and Kagome jumped off. She positioned herself between Inuyasha and the Massagon, her bow at the ready.

Kirara landed next to Kagome and Sango and Miroku jumped off. They positioned themselves on either side of Kagome, protecting their fallen friend.

They stood completely still as the monster searched for its prey. Massagons are slightly blind and base their sight on movement.

"What are we going to do?" Kagome asked. Panic could be heard in her voice. The Massagon was an incredibly strong monster and now that Inuyasha was knocked out…

"I don't know." Sango answered. "The only thing that seemed to have any major effect at all was the Tetsusaiga."

The conversation was interrupted by a soft moaning. The figure behind the group slowly sat up. The Massagon detected the small movement, and whipped its head around to face the group. It screamed again and moved to attack. Miroku acted fast and set up a shield.

Chapter 3 cont.

It felt like I was bashing a rock into my head. I moved my hand to my head and gently massaged my temple. "Ow." I moaned.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome knelt by me and helped me sit up.

I looked over at her. Her face was covered with sweat and there were scratches on her cheek. Her clothes were ripped and dyed scarlet from wounds. Sango and Miroku didn't look much better.

I asked the first question that came to mind: "Are you okay?"

"Me? You're the one who got knocked out! Are _you _okay?

I shrugged. "I'm fine. Nothing serious." My eye caught the gash on her arm. That could've been from the Massagon's claws. The upper part of her arm isn't that far from her heart….

"Kagome!" I said, grabbing her shoulder. "Were those from the Massagon?!"

"Its okay!" she reassured me. "I took medicine after I got scratched. I'm fine."

"Same here." Miroku said. He had a scratch on his neck and Sango had one on her leg.

I relaxed. At least they weren't going to die.

"So," I said, standing up with help from Kagome. "Plan A didn't work, what's plan B?"

"We aren't sure." Sango said. She touched her hand to her chin. "Recklessly attacking it won't work. We need to think up a strategy."

After that, everyone started throwing out ideas. Some of them had flaws that were seen while others were outright ridiculous. My head started pounding again from the noise. I put my hand to my forehead and growled. Soon after that, I snapped.

"Shut up! None of those are going to work!"

"Well I don't see you contributing!" Sango shot back at me. The lack of blood must have made her cranky. "Do you have a better idea?!"

"Yeah! Just beat him senseless and then we'll win!"

"We just tried that! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe doing _that _is what caused you to black out!"

"Enough!" Miroku bellowed. "Fighting amongst ourselves won't solve anything!"

Sango wheeled around to face him. "Well then, monk! What's your idea?"

Miroku sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this."

I looked up at him. "Wouldn't come to what?"

He raised his head to look at me. Determination filled his eyes. "I have to use my wind tunnel." His eyes flickered to Sango then back at me.

"But Miroku," Sango said taking a step towards him. "The poison in his claws will get to you!" She was worried. You could hear it in her voice.

"Yes, it will." The determination on his face didn't falter, even a little.

"No, I won't let you. We can think of something else." Sango's voice rose in anger.

"What Sango? What can we do that won't gain us any casualties?" Miroku's voice rose in return. Sango was silent. "Make sure you stay behind me." Miroku turned to face the Massagon. He took down the shield and readied his right hand.

The Massagon caught the movement and lunged at us. Miroku was quicker. He ripped the prayer beads off his right hand, creating a vortex that sucked up everything in its path. The Massagon screamed. It dug its claws into the ground, trying not to get sucked up. Miroku faltered a bit. He grunted in pain but he refused to accept defeat.

Soon, the ground that the Massagon had dug its claws in broke up and got sucked in. The Massagon lost its footing and started flying towards the wind tunnel. It screamed, and then nothing. Miroku had sucked it up.

Miroku snapped his hand shut and brought it to his chest, the prayer beads wrapped around it. His chest moved up and down with each heaving breath.

"So," Miroku panted, looking at me. "How 'bout that 350 yen?" then he fell over, completely knocked out.

* * *

"Miroku are you sure you're okay?" Sango asked for the billionth time. How many times does she have to ask before she's satisfied?! It's starting to get annoying.

It was about an hour and a half after the Massagon attack and we were heading north again. Kagome was next to me with Shippo on her shoulder, and Sango and Miroku were a few paces behind us.

"Sango, I'm deeply happy that you're so worried about me. Yes, I am fine."

Three….Two….One.

Smack! "Pervert!" Sango shrieked.

"Do you think Miroku will ever learn?" Kagome asked me.

I shook my head. "Nah. Miroku's an idiot."

Suddenly a bright flash blocks my vision.

"Wh—what's happening?!" I heard Shippo cry. Well now I know I'm not the only one who sees this.

Then a figure of a woman stood in front of us. She looked sorta light blue, slightly transparent, and was floating several inches off the ground. She was probably using some sort of magic. I could tell she had black hair and dark eyes. I'm guessing she's the woman Miroku was telling us about.

"Inuyasha," she said. What is it with all these strange women knowing my name? And did I mention I've never even seen them?

"I know what it is you seek." She continued.

That caught my attention. I lowered my head and glared at the woman. "Go on." I instructed.

"I know what it is you—"

"Yeah, yeah I got that part!" I shouted.

The woman's blank face turned angry. "Shut up before I shove a rice ball up your ass!" I stared back at her in surprise. She regained her composure and continued.

"Perhaps I can help."

My eyebrows shot up. "Can you?"

"Maybe." She twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Where are you? How can I find you?" Keh. So what if I'm coming off a little desperate? We almost got killed by a Massagon!

The woman paused for a sec. She seemed to be thinking about something. Then she spoke.

"Do you always trust strangers so quickly?"

I stared at her in disbelief. Is she really asking me this?

She released her hair and took half a step forward. "I mean, an image of a woman you've never met shows up before you, she's blue, transparent, and floating." She slowly started pacing. "She offers you help without any proof that she even knows what's going on, without any proof that she's one of the good guys," she stops to look at me. "And then she threatens to shove food up where the sun don't shine. Why?"

I….don't have and answer for that.

"Hey! If you want to be a sensei, go teach at a dojo! However, at the moment we barley have the time to be sending this message!" a male voice shouted. I looked around. He must be from wherever the woman is.

The woman ignored the voice. "But don't worry." She said, smiling. "I _can_ help you."

What this woman said before was starting to make sense. Why _should _I trust anyone who threatens to shove food anywhere on me?!

I narrowed my eyes at her. "How do I know I can trust you?"

The woman chuckled. "You don't. But that's your choice whether you do." She began stroking her hair. "But it is better to trust before doubt. I will show myself when the time is right. Now remember: You do not know me, and you cannot find me. This has been Sheena."

There was a pause.

"…I just said my name, didn't I?" The woman said. Damn, could this woman be any stupider?

Suddenly the woman snapped to attention. "That is…I mean…N—no I didn't! That name I just said was _not _mine! My name is different! I—it's a girl's name too!" she then hurried out of sight.

"That was smooth." The male voice from before said. Apparently the magic was still in effect.

"Shut up, Leon!" So his name's Leon, huh? Strange name. "I'm just so used to signing off my messages like that!"

"Now he knows your name, and your face!"

"So? We were going to meet up with him anyway!"

"If Fields finds out about this, I'm gonna take of shouting 'It was her fault!'"

"Oh it's nice to know I've got friends to back me up!"

There was no more talking after that, but I heard leaves rustling. I looked at Kagome, who shrugged and looked at Sango. Did they know that the magic was still in effect?"

"Y'know," I heard the woman—Sheena— say. "That Inuyasha doesn't look too smart, does he?"

"Oh yeah, you're one to talk!" I shouted. Hmph. Hell've a lot smarter than her!

There was another silence. "Crap, did he hear me?!"

"Nooo!" the man—Leon—said sarcastically.

"Is it still on?! But I turned it off!"

"Apparently you didn't."

"Sh—shut up!" There was complete silence after that.

"Well," Sango said after a while. "That was….interesting."

I shook my head. "Interesting is putting it mildly."

"That was that woman I was talking about. In case you couldn't tell." Miroku said meekly.

"Yeah. I could tell."

A Brief Interlude

The fire burned brightly. Ribbons of orange flickered constantly. Wood crackled and broke as the fire ate away at it. Her long fingers jerked each time the flames licked her skin. She watched as the black and charred flakes of skin fell and floated to the ground. Her lips stretched into a grin as she watched new strings of skin weave themselves across the wounds.

Slowly, gracefully, she stood up. She glided over to the stone shelf that was cut into the cave wall. She slid her fingers over each and every trinket until they landed on a smooth, polished handle. She wrapped her hand around the mirror's handle and lifted the reflective glass to her face.

"Show me the boy." She whispered in a small voice. The mirror glowed a bright green. Then the light faded, revealing a tall, masculine figure.

His eyes were deep in thought. The thoughtfulness broke as he turned to face a girl. Her lips moved. He shrugged and followed her.

Frowning, she set the mirror down. The mirror was able to show whatever she wanted to see, but it was inaudible. She turned away. Her eyes grazed passed a picture of a group of people shrouded in cloaks. The letters below the drawing spelled out 'The Ancients'.

She tucked a shining lock of hair behind her ear and picked up several pieces of paper, studying them for the second time since she got them. Smiling, she set the letter down.

The time was ripening. Each day she got closer and closer. It was still very far off, but that was okay. She knew she had to wait even before she got her letter. She was prepared to wait. It was only a matter of time.


	4. Day by Day

**A continuation of my epic and heroic quest to bring One Day, One Night out of hiding. No changes except for Sakura's name.**

**I do not own Inuyasha**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Day by Day

I spit the blood that was drawn from the force of the hit out of my mouth.

"Answer the question!" the man in front of me snarled.

"Could you remind me what the question was? See, if you hit your captive in the head first, they can't—" The second man hit me that time.

"Just answer the question! Who are you, and what are you doing in this town?!"

"Hmm," I said, stalling. "Which one do you want me to answer first?" I got slammed in the face with a pot that time. A very, very large and a very, very, hard, pot.

"We have this town heavily guarded. The samurai at each entrance of this town are trained not to let scums like you from entering. How did you get in?"

I tilted my head to the side. "Nah, I think I want to answer the other one."

"Alright! Fine! Who the hell are you?!"

I pulled at the rope that bound my hands, and me, to the chair I was sitting in. No use. The rope isn't any looser than the last time I tried. Sighing, I raised my head to answer the question.

"Well? Are you going to answer, or do I have to hit you again?"

"I'm sorry; I was just so distracted by that huge zit on your forehead." He punched me again.

"You don't want to tell me who you are? Fine! Then how did you get in here?"

"Do you have amnesia? I came in through that door, right over there." I jerked my head to the left. "The one you dragged me through?"

"No you idiot!" He punched me again. "Do I have to spell it out for you? How did you get in this town?!"

"Ohhh, I gotcha! That's a completely different story. See, I was out riding my pink pony named Waffle, when all of a sudden a rabid squirrel comes out of nowhere and—" The man punched me three times. Oops, no, make that four times. Now that's five times. And that makes six.

_'Damn,'_ I thought as I spit more blood out of my mouth. _'I don't know how much more of this I can take!' _

"We'll leave you alone for a while." The first man said. "If you can answer our questions truthfully when we come back, maybe we'll consider letting you go with no more than a fine." I only glared at him in response.

With one final hit, Tweedle Ugly and Tweedle Big Nose left.

_'Finally they left! Now all I have to do is sit tight until morning.' _I looked out at the night through the room's only window, trying to ignore my throbbing head. Being human sucks.

A few hours earlier

We were hiding out in some bushes outside of a town called Hishime. It's a big town and we thought that it would be a good idea to poke around for some information. The only bad news is that the lord of this region of Japan is visiting this town for some reason that is unknown except to the lord and his disturbingly large cat, so the entrance to the town is being guarded. And it's pretty obvious that they can't let a demon in, half-demon or no. They're kinda over doing it a little. 'Least that's what I think.

"How do you suppose we get in?" Kagome asked.

Miroku shook his head. "I'm not quite sure. Dressing Inuyasha up in a cloak won't work. They're just going to ask him to remove it."

"Well how 'bout we do it the easy way?" I said.

"What way is that?" Miroku asked.

I cracked my knuckles. "Simple. You hold him, and I'll punch." I grinned at my idea.

"That's a great idea, but we don't need him screaming bloody murder." Sango pointed out.

"Well, we could lure him away from his post and then you could jump him." Kagome suggested.

"How would we get him away from his post?" Miroku asked.

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know, maybe Sango or I could go ask him if he could help us with something in the woods and when he gets in the woods you could knock him out."

"What makes you so sure it'll work?" I asked her.

"Samurai can never ignore a pretty girl in need." She said a little smugly.

"Oh, well then Sango will do a much better job." Bad idea on my part. Next thing I knew Kagome was yelling sit and I was having a little bonding time with the ground.

"I'm doing a perimeter sweep." Kagome snarled. She got to her feet and stormed away.

"Well," Miroku said after a pause. "Inuyasha, shall we hide out in the bushes then?"

"No, you go on ahead." I said. My response was muffled by the ground, sarcasm coating my voice. "I think I'll stay here and spend some more time with the ground. You know I don't get to very often." I added, but got up anyway.

Miroku and I ducked under the bushes as Sango stepped out into view. I watched as she made her towards the samurai that was guarding the entrance. I could hear their conversation with my demon hearing.

"Can I help you, miss?" I heard the samurai ask.

"Um, yeah. My pack somehow got stuck in a tree branch and I can't get it out. Can you help me?" Sango replied.

"Certainly." The samurai answered politely and followed Sango to where me and Miroku waited.

"One three." Miroku informed me.

I nodded my head, letting him know I heard him.

The samurai was getting closer. As he approached the bushes, I held my breath so he wouldn't hear me.

"Where's your pack?" the samurai asked Sango. Before she could respond, I leaped out of my bush and clubbed him on the back of his head with my fist.

"I _said _on three!" Miroku snapped as he stood up.

I shrugged. "I spared him the anticipation." I responded, stubbornly. Miroku only sighed. "Well it worked, didn't it?"

"So what do we do now?" Sango asked.

"Well, before anything we need to wait for Kagome to get back." Miroku said, eyeing me.

"It's not _my _fault she's so damn sensitive!" I said in my defense. I looked back at the entrance. It was open and vulnerable, and we could just waltz on in. _But _we have to wait for Kagome to come back from being all moody and another samurai could notice the other samurai's disappearance and appoint someone else in his position, and the whole thing starts all over again.

"But it _is _your fault for being so mean." Shippo said from Miroku's shoulder.

"So, did it work?" a voice from behind me said. I turned around to see Kagome standing there.

"Where the hell have you—" I was cut off by Miroku whacking me on the head with his staff.

"It worked just fine, Kagome." Miroku said. "What did you find on your perimeter sweep?"

"Not much. There are only two other samurai at other posts and they're pretty far from this spot, so I doubt that anyone will notice this one's," she pointed to the unconscious samurai on the ground, "absence."

"Okay," Miroku said, dodging the hit that I swung at him. "Then let's go."

* * *

"Where exactly did Sango go again?" I asked Kagome. We were hiding in an ally, close to where we entered the town. Sango told us to stay here and then rushed off somewhere

Kagome shrugged. "She said there was something she needed to get."

"Hey!" shouted a figure that was shrouded in a black cloak.

I turned to the stranger. "Look you, why don't you go away and—Sango?!" I didn't recognize her with that cloak wrapped around her. She had three more on her arm.

Sango thrust one of the cloaks at me. "Something tells me it would be a good idea."

I took one look at the black silk in front of me and glared up at Sango. "Are you serious?"

"I like that idea." Kagome said. She walked up next to Sango. "Might be a good idea to conceal our identities incase one of us dose something stupid. After all, the lord of this region is here and who knows what would happen if we get caught." I swear she's looking right at me when she said that. What does she think I'm gonna do?!

"If people begin to suspect, I'll take care of them like I took care of that samurai."

"Inuyasha, you're missing the point." It was Miroku who spoke that time.

"Then what is the point?" I whirled around to face him.

"The point of these cloaks is to help us lay low, not stand out. If anyone finds out you're a half-demon, we'll have to take care of everyone like you took care of that samurai."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh, so?"

Miroku rolled his eyes. "_So_, who are we going to ask for information?"

I opened my mouth to say something but closed it. I have no comeback for that. I huffed and threw the cloak around my shoulders and clasped the claspy thing around my neck. I yanked the hood over my head. "Let's just get this over with. How are going to go about doing this?"

"It'd be safer if we stick together…" Miroku trailed off.

"But we'd cover more ground alone." Sango pointed out.

They both looked at me. "What do you think, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

If we all go together it would be safer, just like Miroku said. We could all keep checks on each other so no one does something stupid, gets lost or mugged. But it would look more suspicious to see a group of shady looking people in dark cloaks asking for information on shady people.

If we all split up it would look less suspicious and we'd cover more ground. The only problem is if one of us runs into trouble, there's no way to let the other's know, so it's more of a risk. I thought of Kagome, being as defenseless as she is, alone dressed in a cloak and being suspicious.

I shook my head. No way am I going to take such a risk. "We stay together."

"Why?" Kagome asked. "I think we should all go off on our own. We'd cover more ground that way."

"It'll look suspicious if you're prancing around in a black cloak asking information on shady people." I turned away from her.

She grabbed my sleeve. "Wouldn't it be more suspicious if we're all banded together wearing black cloaks asking information on shady people?" I'm not even going to _think _about the phrase 'great minds think alike'.

"Kagome, what if you get hurt? There's no way to contact the rest of us!" I snap at her.

"I'll be fine! I'm way stronger then you give me credit for!" She snapped back.

And then it happens again. We're caught in another one of out infamous heated stare-offs. Place your bets. Who will win?

It's Kagome that breaks away first. She looks away from me with a 'hmph!' and addresses Sango and Miroku. "If we split up, we'll cover more ground and look less suspicious. If we stay together, we'll cover less ground and loose time. If we stay here arguing, we'll loose time. I say we split up."

"And if you get hurt?" I challenge her.

She looked back at me. "I'll be fine."

I stare at her just a bit longer; just a bit longer for her to crack and choose to stay together. Finally I give up. There's no getting through to her! "Fine!" I snarl. "Go off alone, but if you get hurt and can't move, don't come crying to me!"

She smirks at me. "I won't get hurt." She assures me. "And, how can I come crying to you if I can't move?" With that, she takes a cloak of her own and heads off in the opposite direction.

Sometimes that girl really gets to me with that attitude of hers.

"Well, good luck, Inuyasha. Oh, one more thing. I heard that this town is famous for its robust dungeon. Criminals from all over this region are said to be brought over." Miroku said as he and Sango head off in different directions and I'm left alone with Shippo.

The kid looks up at me. "So," he starts. "What should I do?"

I look down at him. "Stay here and out of the way."

"Why? I wanna help too!" He wines.

"Look! There's noting to cover you up! It'd be better for all of us if you just stay here and out of trouble." Shippo pouts and I turn to leave.

I criss cross my way through the throng of people until I make it to the town's inn.

"Excuse me, traveler." I turned to see a short, plump man looking up at me. "Would you like to stay at the Sakura Kusabana inn?"

"Actually, I'm looking for some information. Did you ever receive a guest a guest by the name of Sakura? She's got black hair down to her waist, dark eyes and is a bit…different. She should be traveling with a man by the name of Leon."

The man stroked his chin. "No, can't say that I have."

So far, this whole searching for information thing isn't getting off to a good start. "What about a woman that doesn't look like she's from here? She's pale, and has light brown hair that goes down below her shoulders and curls at the end. Oh, she also has green eyes."

The man shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. By the way, why are you looking for these women? If you don't mind my asking."

I turned away. "Let's just say that I'm dealing with a problem and those women might be able to help me….If one doesn't make good on her threat of shooting a rice ball up my ass." I said the last part to myself and started walking again.

"Wait!" The man called out. I turned around. "If you keep going strait, take the first left you see and you'll find yourself at the tavern. You may find the information you seek." I nodded thanks and turned away.

I headed straight and turned at the first left just like the man said. And lo and behold, there it was; the tavern. When I got closer to the door, I adjusted my cloak so it wouldn't fall off or choke me. I pulled the hood farther down over my eyes. I'm not sure whether I'm starting to believe that something actually will happen or if I'm just being paranoid…Whatever. I pushed the tavern door open and stepped inside.

The tavern was actually pretty small. When you open the door, right across from you was the bar and all its glory. On either side of the tavern were a cluster of tables. There was hardly anyone there. Maybe one or two men at maybe three of four tables. It had it all except for one rather important thing—the damn bartender was missing!

I moaned and slumped against the door frame. _Why, why, _why _did he have to be gone now?! _

"Something troubling you, mister?" I looked up to see a man with a pack slung over his slender shoulders. He was tall too, maybe about six feet, and his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. There's something a little…off about this guy. It's strange.

I straightened up. "I was just hoping that the bartender would be here. Do you know where he is?"

The man shrugged. "I'm not sure where he went. He said there was something he needed to do. Sounded like he'll be gone for a while. If you needed to talk to him, your best bet would be to just wait."

I shook my head. "I don't have that kind of time. Listen, I'm looking for information. Have you seen—or heard—of a woman with black hair down to her waist? She has dark eyes and is a bit different. Her name's Sakura and she's traveling with a man named Leon."

The man cocked his head to the side. "No, I'm sorry."

"Okay, well what about a pale woman with green eyes and light brown hair? Her hair curls at the end."

The man shook his head again. "Doesn't even ring the smallest of bells."

"Of course it doesn't." I mumbled to myself. Then I suddenly remembered something. The witch! That witch that that kid pointed out a few days ago! Something about this man made me remember her.

"Okay, last thing: a demon girl with cat ears and a poofy cat tail? Might have the power to summon monsters from the Dark Times."

He shook his head again. Damn, that last one didn't even faze him! No 'Demon?! Should we be on the look out for her?!' or 'Summons monsters from the Dark Times?! Has all hell gone loose?!' or even 'Poofy cat tail?! Ohh the horror!'

My shoulders slacked and I sighed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." The man said. He pulled his pony tail over his shoulder and began stroking it.

I shook my head. "Yeah, well, whatever." I turned and exited the tavern. I looked at all the buildings around me. This is going to be a loooooooooong day.

A Brief Interlude

Kagome made her way down the marketplace, sidestepping anyone who got in her way. She looked around her, desperately looking for a promising place to start looking for information.

"Excuse me." A voice from behind her said.

She turned around to find a young man standing there. He smiled warmly at her. "Are you lost?"

"Um, actually—" Kagome started.

"Oh, you're a woman. The way you were dressed in that cloak, I thought you were a man. Forgive me."

"No, it's okay. Listen, I'm looking for some information. Could you help me?"

"I might. I travel quite a lot so you can imagine the sort of information I find. Ask away."

Kagome cleared her throat not sure of how to begin. "Well, have you heard any rumors of monsters from the Dark Times?"

The man was silent. Eventually, he parted his lips to speak. "Listen closely. I don't know who you are or how you found out about this but believe me; you don't want to be a part of this. Good day." The man turned to leave but Kagome stopped him.

"So you know what's going on? Is there someone who's behind all this?"

The man abruptly turned around and roughly grabbed Kagome's arm, causing her to wince. "Just forget about it." He snarled. "You're getting too close to something that I don't think you can handle. So why don't you just go back home, and pretend that you've never heard anything. You'll have a better chance of living." He let her go, and hastily turned to leave.

Kagome gingerly touched the place on her arm where he grabbed her. She winced as she rubbed the sore skin.

'_Who was that guy and why did he get so secretive when I mentioned monsters from the Dark Times? Does this mean that there really _is _someone capable of summoning them? If so, then who?' _Kagome dropped her hand from her arm. _'I wish I could've gotten more information from him. But then again, maybe the fact that he was acting so strangely is information itself?' _Kagome's thoughts were interrupted by a strong hand grabbing her shoulder. She turned around ready to scream when she caught sight of the familiar golden color of his eyes.

"Hmph. And I thought you could handle being alone." Inuyasha criticized.

"It wasn't my fault." Kagome said in her defense. "He's the one who got all secretive when I asked him a question."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked and Kagome retold everything the man had said.

"Well it's no use to just stand here." Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's hand. A small gasp escaped her lips at the gesture. "C'mon. No more walking alone for you." He said and pulled her away.

Scene Change

'_Well, this is the place.' _Sango thought, looking up at the building before her. She stepped up to the door and slid it open.

"Hello?" she called. No answer. She swallowed then crossed over the threshold.

"Who's there?" boomed a strong and sure voice.

Sango whirled around to see a man in his late 40s standing at the end of the hallway. He was a large man with bands of muscle wrapped around his body. Gray hair streaked through his once vivid black hair and penetrating eyes adorned his face. Sango gulped.

"Are you Rei?" she asked.

The man tilted his head to the side. He looked at her as if his eyes could pierce right through her to her soul. "Might be. That really depends on who's asking. Who're you?"

"Hitome." Sango said after a brief pause.

Rei nodded. "Alright, now what's your real name?"

Sango's brow knitted in confusion. "I just told you. My name's Hitome."

Rei laughed once. "You don't pause when someone asks you your name." Rei looked Sango square in the eye with those penetrating eyes of his. Sango didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow. Still no answer.

Finally, Rei's face broke out in a grin. "Ah, youth." He said more to himself then anyone else. "Alright, Hitome. I'll play along. Now, why have you sought out ol' Rei?"

"One of the residents of this town told me that perhaps you might know the answers to my questions."

Rei stroked his chin. "Perhaps." He agreed. The old man looked up at Sango. "Why don't we find a more comfortable place to talk? I'll make us some tea." With that, he turned the corner and down the hall, with Sango a few paces behind him.

Scene Change

'_Oh, how misfortunate.' _Miroku thought, raising his glass of sake to his lips. _'So far I haven't found any information.' _He looked up at the dancing geishas that were supposedly entertaining him. _'And to top it off, the geisha's aren't even that good looking.'_

One of the geisha's noticed his crestfallen state and decided to comfort him. "Is something the matter?" she asked her patron.

Miroku sighed. "I came here to seek information but I'm afraid that no luck has befallen me. Such a disappointment."

"Well, I did hear from a previous customer that the lord's samurai are on the look out for a shady character."

Miroku's head snapped up. "Really? What was this character like?"

"Oh, just your normal thief bent on stealing your riches." The geisha responded, delighted that Miroku was giving her attention.

Miroku's shoulders fell slightly. "That's really all there was?"

The geisha noticed her patron's disappointment and wracked her brain for anything else she might have heard about the character. Then it hit her. She leaned in close to Miroku. "I heard that he's a demon."

Miroku's eyes narrowed and his mouth became a thin line. "What was the name of this demon?" he asked indignantly.

Chapter Four Cont.

Kagome looked over her shoulder for the umpteenth time.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked her, agitated.

"I don't know why, but I feel like we're being watched."

I snorted. "We're fine. My demon instincts would have picked up on something like that." The sun was just starting to set. It's giving me a nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I don't pay it any mind. It's probably just irritation.

"Well, then call it women's intuition."

"I don't think you'd be graced with something like that." I could feel Kagome fuming behind me but I pretended not to notice.

That's when I spotted him; the samurai that I knocked out earlier. And he was heading right for me. I stopped suddenly and Kagome bumped into me.

"Ouch! Why did you stop?"

I grabbed her hand again and yanked her in the opposite direction.

"Is something wrong?" Kagome asked.

"No." I said a little too quickly. "Nothing's wrong. I just remembered that I already covered this part of town. Let's go back to the alley and wait for Sango and Miroku." It'd be better if Kagome didn't know just yet.

My plan would've worked if Kagome had only said 'okay' and didn't look behind her shoulder again.

"Isn't that the samurai from earlier?" she asked me. When I didn't answer, she knew the answer was yes. "Is he following us?" Fear coated her voice.

With no hesitation, I picked Kagome up and started running through the crowed. I could hear shouts and surprised gasps from the crowd and I knew that the samurai was running after me too.

A Brief Interlude

Rei poured Sango a cup of hot, steaming tea. Sango raised the cup to her lips and gently blew on it to take away some of the heat.

"Now, what is it you seek?" Rei asked, pouring himself a cup.

"Recently, my friends and I have had some encounters from monsters from the Dark Times." Rei nearly chocked on his tea when he heard this.

"Dark Times, you say? Are you sure?"

Sango nodded. "We've seen an Un-Dead, Skalons, and a Massagon."

Rei stroked his chin, his eyes filled with thought. "Now that you mention it…I'm assuming that you know the story of the Shadow King?"

Sango nodded. "Of course."

Rei leaned in. "Did you know that many monsters and secrets from those times fueled many of the fairy tales we tell our children? Fairies were actually called Glikles and they weren't as how they are made out to be. They were ruthless little creatures. Small yes, but packed quite a bite. They fed off the flesh of the living."

Sango's eyes widened at the information. She had no idea that sweet, little fairies originated from malevolent and grotesque monsters. "But how did fairies come from them?"

"Fairies are tricky little creatures and tend to play pranks on unknowing victims. Glikles did the same. They would enchant you, not with looks, but with words. They would whisper promises to you, compliments, anything to get you to fallow them. Then, when they've got you in their lair, they paralyze you and strip you of your skin." Rei shuddered. "Nasty things, those Glikles."

"Was there a way to fight them?" Sango asked.

Rei rubbed his temple, trying to remember. "If memory serves," he paused for a moment's hesitation, "once you were under their spell, there was no going back. You were as good as dead. But, their spell would only work for the weak minded. As long as you were strong minded and can tell an illusion from the real thing, you were safe."

Sango thought of all the fairy tales, myths, and fables she was told as she was growing up. The beautiful, majestic creatures, the dark, wicked villains; could they all have come from such unholy beings? She remembered one of her favorite stories while growing up. It was called The First Rabbits. The story was about children in the sky crying because they had noting to do. The fairy mother of the sky had told them that they could play with the snow balls the children had made from the snow sieve. The children were laughing and playing and having fun with the snowballs until they dropped them and they fell down to Earth. The fairy mother of the sky threw her torch after them but only succeeded in scorching their tales and turning them black and they fell to Earth as white rabbits with black tails.

"So in the story The First Rabbits," Sango said slowly. "Was the fairy mother of the sky a Glikle?"

"Ah yes, The First Rabbits. I did enjoy that one." Rei said to no one in particular. "Now about the fairy mother of the sky being a Glikle, I'm not quite sure. But I do know that there was a monster that traveled around on a cloud with several children at its feet. The monster would douse everyone in flame and the children at its feet would hurl balls of ice, freezing whoever it hit instantly."

Sango nodded. Perhaps this bit of information would prove to be helpful. She looked up at Rei again. "Do you remember what stopped the Dark Time monsters?"

Rei looked at Sango questioningly. "What do you mean? I thought you said you've heard the story."

"I've only heard how the Shadow King came to be, what gave him his name, and what happened to him. That's all I know. Wait," she said after a moment's hesitation. "Are you saying it was the Shadow King that destroyed the Dark Time monsters?"

Rei shook his head. "Now, now, Hitome. Don't go putting words in Ol' Rei's mouth. I didn't say that at all."

"But you _were _implying there was some sort of connection between them."

Rei chuckled. "You're a clever girl, Hitome. You're right; there was a connection between them. But I'm afraid I've no idea what that connection might be. But maybe I can assist you in another way."

Sango leaned in, eager to hear more.

Scene Change

Swiftly, Miroku ran about the town in search of Inuyasha. He had to warn him. In the tea house that Miroku decided to take a break in, he heard that somehow someone found out that Inuyasha was a half-demon and reported to one of the samurai that was guarding the area. The samurai then informed the lord of the problem and the lord sent samurai out to capture him, ask him what he was doing in town, and, if need be, kill him.

'_Inuyasha!' _Miroku screamed in his mind. _'Where are you?! Don't you remember that today is—'_

"Miroku!" a voice shouted from behind.

Miroku skidded to a stop and turned to see a figure shrouded in darkness lunging at him. The figure hit the ground and Miroku recognized the timbre of his voice.

"Inuyasha! Listen to me! Someone has found—"

"I know." Inuyasha said curtly. "I've been running from this guy for the past 10 minutes." Inuyasha gestured to the samurai, not fifty feet away, running head on.

"Quick! We've got to find Sango and leave before he catches you!"

"Why? What makes you think that he can catch me? I'm a half-demon." Inuyasha said, a bit of smugness in his voice.

Miroku's eyes widened. "Oh, God. You didn't forget did you? Inuyasha! Tonight's—"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shrieked.

The two men whirled around to see Kagome pointing to the sky. Inuyasha's gaze followed her arm and fell upon the sky.

"Dammit." was the one word that fell from Inuyasha's lips as he remembered what day it was. He silently cursed himself as he felt a feeling of change wash over his body.

Scene Change

Sango's eyes widened with each rumor of the Shadow King that Rei shared. There were some she paid no attention to like him having a third eye that could see anything and everything, or that he sheds his skin, and then there were some that really caught her attention.

"What?!" she gasped, falling back slightly from the shock. "The sadist! He kept monsters as pets and fed humans to them to relieve him of his boredom?!"

Rei nodded mournfully. "Aye. Truly awful, indeed."

Sango slammed her hand down on the table and shook her head, disgusted. _'How…how _dare _he!' _"How could he…do something like that?" she asked softly. "He may have been a powerful and dark sorcerer, but at the end of the day, each and every one of those who practiced Dark Arts was human."

Rei's eyes were mixed with sorrow. "Who can tell? He was truly a sick man." Silence washed over the two. Sango bowed her head down for a moment of silence, honoring those who were so unwilling drawn out with the beauty of lies and the hope of false promises.

"That is," Rei said slowly, "this is assuming that he was actually a man."

Sango's head shot up like a cannon. Did she hear that right? "What?" she asked him.

"That's the most curious rumor. Some say that the Shadow King was actually a Shadow Queen."

"You mean, some said that he was…actually a she?" It was all too much for Sango to wrap her head around. First, she and her friends are being hunted by a foe stronger than Naraku, are almost killed by a Massagon, and then she hears that her favorite fairy tale creatures were maleficent beasts, and all theses rumors about the Shadow King—or was it Queen?

"That's what I'm saying, 'aint it?" Rei looked out at the sky through the window. He smiles slightly. "There are no clouds in the sky. Pity 'bout the moon not being out tonight. Its glow would surely make this place look magical."

This snapped Sango out of her thoughts. _'No moon? I forgot!' _She stood up like a bat out of hell. Pressing the palms of her hand together in front of her, she bowed slightly. "Thank you very much, Rei. You've helped me greatly. But I'm in a hurry, so I must go." She hastened to leave.

"Hitome!" Rei shouted, grabbing Sango's wrist. "What you have said about meeting up with Dark Time monsters, it's got me interested. I'm going to leave this town and search for some information myself. If you continue your travels, perhaps we'll meet up again in the future." He smiled a sincere smile, one Sango couldn't help but returning. Rei let her go, and she dashed down the hall and out the door.

Chapter Four Cont.

I couldn't see anything. The only thing I was aware of was two rough and calloused hands forcing me through a door. With rope, they bound me to the chair and roughly removed the sack over my head, yanking out a few of my hairs in the process. They stared at me, shocked.

"What?" I ask bitterly, desperately trying to conceal the hysterics that are threatening to burst. When those samurai had finally caught me and forced the sack over me, I had already changed into a human.

The samurai I knocked out earlier today took the honor of punching me first. I could taste the blood in my mouth. "What the hell kind of trick are you playing at, Demon?"

"Demon?" I fake-laugh once. "Are you blind, or are your eyes just knotholes? I'm a human!"

"Don't play games!" the other samurai said. "A man passed along some interesting information."

"Oh, really? Was it awesome-interesting or freaky-interesting?" I say, purposefully missing the point.

The first samurai hit me. "Shut up! He said he met up with a character that was about your height, the same voice inflection, was wearing a dark cloak, and he could sense demon in him." The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. "So why don't you just drop the act and just show your true form? There's no need to lie, we know your secret."

I rolled my eyes. "I've told you; I'm not a frickn' demon!"

"And I say you are!" the samurai snarled. He recomposed himself. "Now, why don't you tell us who you are, and how you got into this town."

A Brief Interlude

"Miroku! Kagome!" Sango shouted, running fast towards her friends. She stopped in front of them and noted the missing half-demon-turned-human. "Where's Inuyasha?"

"That samurai from before must have found out that he was a half-demon, so he and another samurai captured him." Kagome explained. "But he turned into a human right before they caught him." She looked down, emotions flickering across her face. "It's my fault. I should have told him that the new moon was tonight. Then he would've gotten out of this town before the sun set and he wouldn't be in this mess."

"Stop it." Miroku commanded. "It was nobodies fault, we all forgot. And pinning the blame on yourself isn't going to save him." He looked out at the moonless sky. "The good news is we know where he's being held. The bad news is the dungeon where he's being kept is like a maze. We'll need somebody to help us."

Sango's eyes lit up. "I think I know somebody who could help us!"

"Who?" Kagome asked.

Sango turned to face her friend. "When I was looking for information, I met up with a man that proved to have strong connections with this town. Maybe he knows something." On that note, Sango turned smartly on her heel and headed back to the house she had visited only moments before.

* * *

Sango slid the door open. "Rei!" she called out into the open space. "Rei, its Hitome!"

Miroku shot her a questioning look. "Hitome?"

Sango ignored his question and ran into the house, shouting Rei's name the entire time. She kept running all over the place until she found herself in the down room where they had tea. A caretaker of the house entered the room to see what was making all the noise. He cleared his throat. "If you're looking for Master Rei, he's out."

"Do you know where he went?"

The caretaker pursed his lips together, obviously annoyed by Sango's lack of manners. "No, I don't. It's my job to look after Master Rei's house, not inquire where he's going. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to show you to the door now." He pushed past the teens and headed toward the door.

"Hitome?" Miroku asked again.

Sango shrugged. "I thought that it would be good to have and alias."

When the group exited Rei's house, the caretaker slammed the door shut.

"What do we do now?" Kagome asked. With every second that ticked by, she got more, and more anxious. She didn't know what was happening to Inuyasha and it made her more nervous that he was a human, his most vulnerable state.

"I guess we should just go to the dungeon." Miroku said, shrugging. "Speaking of which," he turned to the girls. "Do either of you know where that is?"

* * *

By asking the villagers around town, the group found out that the dungeon was on the hill to the north of town. They exited the town and headed up the winding trail to a large stone fortress—Hishime's famed dungeon. The actual building was surrounded by a large, stone wall with an impenetrable door and spikes at the very top.

Miroku, Sango, and Kagome were hiding in bushes just outside of the fort.

"How do you think we can get in?" Kagome whispered, wary of all the samurai on patrol.

"Kirara," Sango said to her cat-like demon pet. Immediately, the demon morphed into its true form; a larger version of itself with large fangs and fire circling its feet. The group mounted the giant demon.

Kirara flew up high into the sky, darted over the wall and landed in a secluded area where the group got off.

They hid behind a large stone pillar, out of view of the samurai guarding the door. Miroku stooped to the ground and picked up a rock. He pulled his arm back and let it snap forward, the rock flying through the air and strait for one of the samurai's head. The rock made contact and the samurai crumpled to the ground.

"Who's there?!" the other one cried. He whirled around. "Sh-show yourself!" he turned around again just in time to see another rock flying at him and then nothing.

Miroku smirked as he watched the other samurai fall to the ground.

"Nice arm." Sango complimented.

"Thank you. I do try." The monk responded with a quick grope to the demon slayer's lower back. Sango took the opportunity to show Miroku that, she too, had a nice arm.

"Let's go, Kagome." Sango fumed, leaving Miroku to tend to his new head wound alone.

* * *

Kagome stepped carefully onto each step, using the wall for support. Several times Kagome had slipped on the slick stone, and several times she had to pay for it with scrapes and cuts. She slipped again and held fast to a step when she hit the floor to avoid falling any farther. Slowly, she opened her closed eyes and looked out before her. The stairwell was dark and she had no idea how much longer she had to climb down the flight of stairs.

Kagome moaned and leaned her head on her arm, closing her eyes again. _'How on Earth did we all get separated again?!' _she thought irritably. She thought hard as the memory slowly came back to her.

Flashback

Aside from the sound of feet on stone, everything was silent. An eerie chill that never subsided ran throughout the entire fortress. The group hadn't spoken since they stepped over the threshold to the inside of the vast fortress. As they stepped through, they were attacked by a wave of arrows from high above. Without a moment to loose, the team bounded down the first flight of steps they saw.

A team of samurai followed them quickly on foot and the group ran down the hall and around bends. Faster, and faster they went, running through random tunnels, doors, and stairs until the samurai finally lost track of them.

They took a moment to rest. "I think we lost them." Sango had said.

"Yeah." Kagome panted, pushing hair out of her eyes. After about five minutes, the group started walking again.

Pretty soon, they came across a room with three tunnels leading off in different directions in front of them.

"What should we do?" Kagome asked.

"There's only one thing we can do." Miroku looked at the girl. "We're going to have to split up. Going together will take too long."

Kagome looked down one of the tunnels. She didn't really want to spilt up from the group in such a large and dark place. She looked back at her friends. "Do we really have to?" she asked timidly.

"It would be a lot quicker." Sango answered. "It would be bad if it took us until morning to find Inuyasha. What if the samurai are still in the room when he changes back? He'd be able to force his way out but it would take a while to find us and we all need to leave this town as soon as possible."

Kagome had nothing to say to this. So she took a deep breath and headed down the tunnel to the far tight. Sango followed suit and took the tunnel to the far left whilst Miroku took the tunnel in the middle.

End Flashback

The anger in Kagome quickly subsided as she remembered the sole reason she agreed to split up. This realization rejuvenated her and she hastened to her feet. She put her best foot forward and the other one quickly followed as she began to run—rather recklessly—down the stair well.

Not so long after, Kagome hit a weak spot in the stairs and the floor crumbled beneath her, sending her down into the depths of the unknown, screaming all the way.

Scene Change

Every time Shippo would here tumbling of worn pebbles falling from their respective places in the walls, or hear a creak of a wooden door open, he'd cry out in fear. But this time he heard a shriek that was oddly familiar.

"Wh-what was that?!" The young fox-demon scurried up Miroku's arm and held fast to his neck.

"I'm sure it was nothing Shippo," Miroku said for the umpteenth time, prying Shippo's hands from the head-lock he held on him.

"B-b-but that w-was a sc-sc-scream." The kid stammered.

"It was probably one of the criminals being held here." Miroku reassured, but Shippo was hardly listening. He was too busy listing all the worst possible things that could've happened.

"M-maybe they got Kagome! M-maybe they're moving to hurt her for information now! Maybe they're even going to—Whaaaaa!" Shippo wailed. "I knew I should've gone with her!"

Miroku clamped a hand over the young demons mouth. "I'm sure she's fine." He said in a low, exasperated voice. "Now, let's continue _quietly _so we don't get caught ourselves."

They continued walking, Shippo trying desperately not to cry out every time he heard a noise, and Miroku thanking any god or goddess that would listen for the moment of silence. Soon, they came across a door. There was a sign above the door that read 'Dangerous criminals ahead No unauthorized personal'. Miroku looked down at Shippo. "Looks like we found it." he said with a grin. He placed his hand on the handle and slowly opened the door stepping inside.

Then the door slammed shut unexpectedly after the two stepped inside. Shippo whaled again at the exact moment Miroku shouted out "What the—?" The room was dark; they couldn't see anything. After a few seconds, torches flamed to life revealing a monster. Again Shippo cried out.

Miroku sighed. "And here I was hoping we were on the right track. Didn't expect to be led into a trap." With that said, Miroku readied his staff, prepared to fight.

Scene Change

Kirara mewed nervously. Sango looked concernedly at the small cat demon on her shoulder. "What's wrong Kirara?" Kirara mewed again, putting Sango on edge. She looked around, but found nothing. Gently, she petted the demon and continued down the tunnel.

Suddenly, she drew the Hiraikotsu and whirled around. Her eyes scanned the area. _'That's weird,' _she thought. _'I could've sworn I heard someone following me.' _After a few more minutes of quietly listening for anything out of the ordinary, she dismissed the thought as paranoia.

A little ways down the tunnel, it curved to a left and on the right side of the hall was a wooden door. _'Looks promising.' _the demon slayer thought. The door opened with a long creak and Sango stepped inside. Inside the room were bookshelves and a table in the middle with a huge map sprawled across. Sango stepped up to the table and peered at the map. Notes were written across it. After a while of studying the map, Sango looked away, realizing that she couldn't decipher whatever was written on the detailed drawing. Abandoning that plan, she turned her sights on the bookshelves.

"I'm impressed that you made it _this _far. Not bad. Not bad at all." Said a deep voice that would send chills down the spine of the devil himself. Sango gasped in surprise as she felt a strong arm snake across her chest and yank her back, sword to her neck. The force of the arm pulling her to a hard chest knocked the wind out of her.

"Now!" roared the voice. "Tell me everything that you know!"

Scene Change

That…that pounding. Is it coming from drums? No. Drums would have been much louder. There's…a strange feeling. Pain. Oh, yes that was defiantly pain. Pain that spread all the way down to her feet. She couldn't see. Was she blind? No, her eyes were just closed. She was sure of that. Could she get up?

Kagome moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a hole in the ceiling. "What happened?" she asked out loud. "Oh, that's right. I hit a weak spot in the stairs and fell." She looked up again. "Wow. That's a long way up." Gently, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing from the pain.

She felt for any broken bones. The young girl winced in pain as she felt around her ribs. She'd have to get Sango to look at that. Finally, after confirming that she had no other injury, she stood up. A few feet in front of her was an archway that had a tunnel that led down, and behind her was a stair case that curved to the left after a while. Deciding it was best to keep going down, Kagome stepped through the archway.

After what seemed like an hour—or was it only a minute? Either way, Kagome felt like she had been walking for a very long time. But nevertheless, after a while she started to hear some muffled yelling. She continued down the slopping tunnel until she came across a door. That, she knew, was where the yelling was coming from. Quietly, she crept up to the door and placed her ear on it, listening.

"Alright! Fine! Who the hell are you?!" one voice roared. A long silence followed. "Well? Are you going to answer or do I have to hit you again?"

"I'm sorry; I was just so distracted by that huge zit on your forehead." Kagome would've laughed at that response if she hadn't realized who that response belong too.

Kagome's heart leaped in her chest. _'Inuyasha!' _she thought fervently. Her hand shot toward the door handle. Locked. Irritated, Kagome pulled her hand away. She sighed. Maybe it was better that she hadn't been able to open it. After all, she couldn't just barge in there; she was defenseless. And judging from the sound of a fist colliding with something, made her believe that Inuyasha was too. So Kagome turned on her heel and race back up the way she came, passing through the arc and up the flight of stairs, searching for either Miroku or Sango and hoping that she would remember the way.

Scene Change

"Your turn to check the door." Miroku told Shippo as he lolled lazily against the dead demon's side.

Shippo sighed and made his way toward the door. He began banging on it. "Help! Anyone there?!" he hollered. After another try, he gave up and plopped down at the base of the door. "This is hopeless!" he cried. "No one's going to hear us!"

Miroku sighed and headed over to where the young fox-demon was pouting. "Shippo, I'm sure we'll be fine. They set up this trap for a reason; to catch intruders. So obviously they are going to have to check up on this room to see if the demon's gotten anyone."

Shippo looked up at the monk. "So what are we going to do when people _do _find us?"

Miroku shrugged. "What else can we do? We can knock them out or put a memory spell on them, make them forget." Suddenly, Miroku heard a noise that made him leap to his feat.

Shippo's eyes widened. "What?"

Miroku smirked. "I told you, Shippo. Someone's coming." He began banging on the door. "Help! Can you hear us?" Footsteps hurried to the locked door.

"Miroku?" said a familiar voice that neither the monk, nor the fox-demon expected.

"Kagome?" Miroku asked incredulously. "Is that you?"

The girl quickly opened the door to find Shippo lunge at her. "Kagome!" he cried. Kagome caught him effortlessly.

Miroku stepped out of the door. "Kagome, how did you end up in this tunnel?"

Kagome shook her head. "I can hardly believe it myself. This place really _is _like a maze! I came across a spiral staircase when I came to the end of my tunnel and I went down it. I must've hit a weak spot in it because I fell through the stone and into the floor below this one. There was a staircase behind me and I took it. When I came out I could go either left or right, and I chose right."

Miroku nodded, taking in the information. Then Kagome gasped.

"No!" she shouted. "You're not important!"

"Ouch," said the monk. "That's harsh."

"No, I mean you _are _important, but get this; I found him! I found Inuyasha! When I fell through the floor there was an archway and a hall that sloped down and it led to the room Inuyasha's in. I'm going to need help that's why I came looking for you or Sango."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" With that, Miroku took the lead past the door and down the hall in the mad dash to get to Inuyasha.

"Stop!" cried a voice. The voice was so demanding and sure the three stopped in their tracks.

Scene Change

"Hitome?" asked a familiar booming voice. The brute figure sheathed his sword and released Sango. She collapsed on the ground in a nasty coughing fit. The figure knelt down next to her.

"Rei," Sango managed to choke out. Right after she said that, a whole new fit of coughs washed over her.

Soon, the attack was over and Sango could breath properly again. Rei's penetrating eyes pierced her with dismay. "What are you doing here Hitome?"

"Sango."

Rei stared at her. Sango shrugged. "I trust you enough with my real name. It's Sango."

Rei smirked. "Nice to know I'm trusted." His face lost all traces of humor. "Be that as it may, you still haven't told me why you're in such a dangerous place."

"I'm looking for a friend."

"Now why would a nice girl like you, go looking for someone who supposedly a deadly criminal?"

"That's just it." Sango replied getting to her feet. Rei followed suit. "He's not a deadly criminal."

Rei raised and eyebrow at her. Sango sighed. "Long story short, some other friends and I came to this town looking for some information. What kind of information, I'm sure you already know. Anyway, one friend is a…" Sango trailed off. She wasn't sure how much she could reveal at the moment.

"A…?" Rei prompted.

"A half-demon." Sango said finally.

Rei was taken aback by her statement.

"The thing is," Sango continued. "Neither of us knows where he is."

Rei thought for a moment. "I may be able to help you with that." He crossed to room and loomed over the table with the map. "I've come here before." He said, studying the map. "I'm the one that the people in Hishime unofficially look up to for answers. Since I play a huge roll in this fortress, you can bet I know where dangerous people like demons will be kept." He turned back and looked at Sango. "If memory serves, we just need to continue down the hall until we come across some stairs. Those stairs will lead to the place that I think your friend is being kept." He gestured toward the door behind Sango. "Ladies first." He encouraged.

Sango turned and lead Rei down the hall. "Rei," she said after a while. "When you found me in that room, why did you attack me? Who did you think I was?"

"Well, this place is filled with some of the lowest of the low. When I saw you with that huge weapon on your back, I thought you were part of some cult whose buddy got himself captured and thrown in here. That map back in that room has a _very _detailed drawing of the entire fortress. Just from that drawing you can find out how weak of how strong the hold is and how many samurai there are. So it can give whoever holds it a very strong advantage."

"Yeah. Very strong if they can read chicken scratch." Sango said half out loud and half to herself.

Rei's loud voice boomed out in laughter. "I can't disagree with you there, Sango." His hearty laughter soon died out. He held up a hand, a signal to Sango to stop walking. "Do you hear that?" he asked quietly.

Sango tilted her head to the side. "It sounds like," she started, matching Rei's volume. "Someone's running."

"Yeah. A lot of 'someones'. With that, the two rounded the corner to find two tall figures running with a small one trailing behind.

"Stop!" Sango bellowed out, causing the figures to stop in their paths.

"Sango!" Kagome cried out. The young girl rushed over to her friend.

"Kagome?! And Miroku and Shippo too?"

Kagome noticed Rei for the fist time. She shrunk back a little under his scrutinizing gaze. "Oh," she said nervously, taking in the big bulk of a man towering over her small frame. "Who's this?"

Rei stuck out a large hand. "Name's Rei. Last name's not important."

"Kagome." The girl in question said grabbing Rei's hand and watching her own get swallowed up.

Rei smirked. "Funny. I thought you'd have a stronger grip."

Kagome laughed nervously. "A-anyway," She turned to Sango. "I've found Inuyasha. We just follow those stairs over there," she pointed behind her, "and just through an archway." By that time Miroku and Shippo had caught up with the runaway girl. After quick introductions, Kagome led the way back to where Inuyasha lay captive.

* * *

"Can you hear anything?" Shippo asked. Kagome, Rei, Sango, and Miroku all shushed him simultaneously.

"It sounds like…they're arguing about something." Rei commented. "There's definitely some hitting…Dammit! Hide! They're about to leave!" The group scrambled around, desperately trying to find a place to hide. They were out of view by the time the door was wrenched open and two samurai stalked out.

One samurai turned to the other. "Do I really have a huge zit on my forehead?" The other samurai shook his head, though the blemish was clearly visible.

Once the samurai were out of sight and hearing range, Kagome rushed to the door and yanked on the handle. It was no use. The door was still locked.

"They locked it!" Kagome hissed.

"Step aside, Kagome." Rei stepped in front of Kagome. "You can open any locked door with the proper leverage. Now I'd advise you all to stand back. You don't know what might happen."

Chapter Four Cont.

It wasn't long after the two samurai left did I start to hear it. At first it sounded like something hard was banging against the door. Then it sounded like the door was being wrenched from the actual frame. I turned my head just in time to see a large, burly man knocking over the door. "Who are you?!" I shout at him. If those samurai have sent some sort of heavy to intimidate me, then they're getting a serious ass kicking when I get my hands on them!

"Inuyasha!" cries a voice and the next thing I know, Kagome's got my neck in a vice grip. She started saying so many things so fast, it was hard to follow.

"Okay, okay, okay, I get the point; you're sorry. Now if you're done choking me, could you please untie these ropes?" At that mention, Mr. Heavy rounded to the back of the chair and began tugging at the ropes.

"Wow, Inuyasha. You must be losing your touch." Shippo bounded up to me. "I can't believe you'd forget about tonight. You really are and idiot."

…Give it a second. "Brat!" I snarl at the kid. Luckily, Mr. Heavy has loosened the ropes and I am free to chase the little fuzz-ball around the room. Yes, I say luckily.

"Inuyasha, stop!" Kagome hissed. Why is it always me that gets the blame?

"Why do you always take _his _side?!" I raise the captive fox-demon in the air. "He started it!"

"Enough!" bellowed Mr. Heavy. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible!"

I turn and stare at him. "And who are you?"

"Name's Rei. I'm a friend of Sango's."

I turned to the demon slayer. "And does he know…?" she nodded. I faced Rei again. "Hmph. I guess since you know that I'm a half-demon I should tell you that ever night of the new moon I transform into a human." I said, gesturing to my current state.

"Yeah, I figured as much." He said in a lackluster tone. "Anyway, we need to leave _now_. Follow me; I know a short cut."

* * *

My God I never thought I'd be so happy to see the light! When the sun rose this morning, I experienced the familiar sense of change wash over me as I turned back into my old self again. When we were a few miles away from Hishime, Rei stopped to speak:

"I've done some thinking, and I decided that it's best if I take my leave here." He said.

"Are you sure?" Sango asked, taking a step toward the burly man. Rei nodded.

"I think it would be better if I do my own share of information gathering. As much as I hate to leave you kids. I've grown to like you." I rolled my eyes at his sentimentality.

"Do you think we'll run into each other again?" Kagome asked.

Rei half-smiled. "If you all continue your journey, I'm sure we will." With that, the man gave us all a reassuring smile and left in the other direction. We watched him go until he was nothing more than a speck and we began walking again.

I don't know why but there's something about that guy that makes me…I dunno. I guess he's okay.

* * *

I held out my arm, signaling the rest of the group to stop. "Wait. I heard something." My eyes scan the surrounding forest. Snap. My head whirls around in the direction of the twig breaking just in time to see a sword fly at me. I dodge it just in time, dragging Kagome down with me. When I look up, I see a figure lunge at me. I leap out of the way and the figure lands nimbly on the ground. The figure turns, and I realize it's a man.

He's a tall man, maybe about six feet. His hair flows down around his shoulders and is and intense shade of brunette and has deep blue eyes that seem to pierce anything they gaze upon. "You," the man said, pointing at us. "You all…must die!" with that he lunges at us again and…

…Is now being harassed by a flight of rocks.

"Down boy!" says a voice, and out steps a woman that's none other than Sheena.

"Sheena?!" I asked startled.

She turns to me. "Hmm?" she says, nonchalantly.

"Okaaay." I draw out the syllable. "Do you know this guy?" I ask, pointing to the man on the ground.

"Who, him? Nah, I don't him. He's just some creepy hobo guy I picked up on the side of the road." She said.

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't recognize them," the man said, moving to place a hand on Sheena's shoulder. "But calling me—" he couldn't even get the phrase out before Sheena nailed him across the face with her fist.

"Aaaaaah!" she shrieked. "Creepy hobo guy!"

"Okay, you kinda overdid that a little, there. Ow." The man said, back on the ground.

"You can never over do it when it comes to a creepy hobo guy." She protested.

"Wait," I said interrupting their extremely boring and idiotic conversation. Damn that crazy woman! "Is that…what did you call him….? Leon?"

The man stood up and smartly side stepped Sheena who was taking another swing at him. "Yes. I'm from America."

"America?" Kagome asked surprised. Leon nodded.

"Hey, what's 'Ah-mare-icka'?" I asked her.

"It's a country across the Atlantic ocean." She answered. "America," she mumbled to herself. "Really?"

Hmmm. I'm getting a strange feeling about this Leon guy. There's something…I dunno, a little off about him.

"Sooo," Sheena said, drawing out the syllable. "Let's get down to business." On that note, Sheena led us down the path we were walking with Leon trailing a few paces behind.

I looked at Kagome, who looked at me and then at Sango and Miroku. We all knew what each of us was thinking: Things were about to get just a tad bit more interesting and a hell of a lot more dangerous.


	5. Author's Note

**Hello! It's me, re-uploading my author's note! I am here to tell you that I am currently on an epic and heroic quest to bring One Day, One Night out of hiding!**

**Currently, I am working on a new basis for the story and for chapter 5. And that's about it. I need a new idea for this story since the original muse ran away with another woman. That kinda sucks. So it'll be a while before I get chapter 5 out, but please know that I am working on it and it is on its way!**

**If you are a dedicated fan of this story and you are reading this, I thank you for being so loyal and waiting for this to be resurrected.**

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


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